Lithuania will construct a fence along its border with Russia to protect the country from “provocations” and to ensure control over the EU’s eastern border remains “credible”.

The construction will come at time of heightened tensions between the tiny Baltic state and its mighty neighbour. Lithuania has looked an alarm at the use of Russian military force in Ukraine, and, as a consequence, stepped up enhancing its military defensives.

Stretching 81 miles along the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and over 6ft in height, the fence will cost an estimated £26 million, most of which will come from EU funding.

At the moment the border consist only of a signposted 42ft-wide strip of cleared land.

“We must ensure credible control of our eastern border of the European Union,” said Saulius Skvernelis, the Lithuanian prime minister.