The project will cost about 40 million euros ($A64 million).

Discussions with the EU showed that the camera option was significantly cheaper than erecting a physical barrier, she told the BNS news agency on Saturday.

The border stretches about 680km and is also the edge of EU territory to the bloc's east. Currently, about half of the stretch is outfitted with cameras.

The move comes just weeks after Belarus, in an apparent effort to punish the West for sanctions, began allowing migrants from other parts of the world to fly into the country, with the promise that they would then be allowed to travel on to the European Union.

That led to a rush of migrants at the Lithuanian and Polish borders, creating a humanitarian catastrophe as the people were blocked from travelling west, but prevented from turning back by Belarusian forces.

There were deaths as some of the migrants succumbed to winter temperatures. The harsh moves by the two countries to keep migrants out were criticised by human rights groups.

Australian Associated Press