Estonia announces snap military exercise, will put razor wire along Russian border

People walk on the bridge over Narva river at the border crossing point with Russia in Narva, Estonia February 16, 2017. Picture taken February 16, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

(Reuters) - The Estonian government summoned 1,700 reserve soldiers on Wednesday for an unannounced exercise which will include installing a razor wire barrier along 40 km of its border with Russia, as the migration crisis in nearby Belarus intensifies.

The EU has accused Belarus of flying in thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa and pushing them to cross into EU and NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in retaliation for sanctions already imposed on Minsk. Belarus has denied deliberately fomenting the crisis.