Lithuania is to build an 80-mile fence along its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, fearing an attack from the territory.
The Baltic state said that the 2m-high fence would not stop tanks but would deter smugglers and anyone trying to cross by foot.
EU nations in the region are nervous about Russia’s use of soldiers in unmarked uniforms in Ukraine.
Latvia and Estonia, which like Lithuania are Nato members, also plan to build fences and in 2015 Poland announced that it would build watch towers along its frontier with Kaliningrad.
Nato is deploying large numbers of troops and equipment in eastern Europe’s border regions, which has angered Moscow.
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“The reasons are both economic to prevent smuggling and geopolitical to strengthen the EU’s external border,” said Eimutis Misiunas, Lithuania’s interior minister.
Construction of the fence will start this spring and will be finished by the end of the year at a cost of about €30 million.
There are no barriers on this stretch of border, where Russian cigarettes are smuggled into Lithuania.
The fence will run from Vistytis, at the intersection of three countries — Lithuania, Poland, and Russia — to the River Neman.
Mr Misiunas said the fence could prevent cross-border “provocations” recalling an incident in 2014 when Estonia accused Russia of abducting an intelligence officer at gunpoint on its border. He was exchanged a year later for a Russian prisoner in a Cold War-style swap.
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The Kremlin denies any territorial ambitions and says that Nato is trying to encircle Russia. Moscow’s deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad last year and frequent military drills in the Baltic region have rattled Poland and the three Baltic states.
The European Commission denied reports that it would help to pay for the fence.
