Saeima committee seeks answers over border camera claims

Latvia’s parliamentary committee for defence, internal affairs and corruption prevention plans to ask the Interior Ministry to explain Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava’s claims that surveillance cameras installed on the Latvia Belarus border had not been connected, LSM reported.

Dombrava said on a television programme this week that technical problems had been observed on the border. Raimonds Bergmanis, chair of the responsible Saeima committee, said the information was new to him and to the committee.

“This statement by the minister was just as much of a surprise as it was to most of the public, because we did not have such information,” Bergmanis said. He added that the president and prime minister had also visited the border region, but nothing similar had been made public.

The committee plans to contact the Interior Ministry soon to establish what happened and why the information was made public. Rihards Kozlovskis, the former interior minister and current transport minister, described Dombrava’s remarks as either deliberate misinformation or incompetence regarding the development of the smart border.

The Latvian State Radio and Television Centre, which is responsible for developing the smart border, said the project was proceeding according to schedule and would be completed by the end of the year.

Of the 172.9 kilometre Latvia Belarus border, 52 percent has so far been handed over to the State Border Guard. Construction, system configuration and commissioning are continuing on the remaining section, according to the centre.

LVRTC representative Vineta Sprugaine said the project was on schedule and that the centre regularly reported on its progress. The latest report was submitted to the Interior Ministry led External Border Development Supervisory Commission on July 14.