The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) is preparing to install a chain of blade buoys on the water border with Russia, the agency's Deputy Director General Veiko Kommusaar told the Estonian National Broadcasting Company (ERR).
According to Kommusaar, this is one of two options that the PPA is going to test as part of a pilot project. He noted that of the 338 kilometers of border Estonia shares with Russia, just 135 kilometers of it are on land.
The police have selected two solutions for testing. The first involves a long chain of interconnected buoys anchored securely to the bottom of the waterway.
"The system is designed so that if someone tries to cross this water infrastructure, there won't be much left of their boat or vehicle," Kommusaar said. "In very challenging areas, there even buoy systems with cutting blades on them."
The buoys are designed to be unclimbable, as they rotate in the water.
"You can't grab onto them from anywhere," he noted. "And they push the person back to the side they came from."
The second considered solution is a floating fence supported by pontoons, providing a sturdy barrier on the water's surface.
In June, the PPA caught 4 men who had swum across the Narva River into Estonia. A month later, they intercepted an inflatable dinghy on Lake Lämmijärv carrying 13 individuals from India attempting to enter the country illegally.
The PPA has allocated €1,000,000 for the three-year pilot project. However, Kommusaar emphasized that it is still too early to determine whether the entire eastern water border will eventually be equipped with floating infrastructure.
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