Brussels: Defense officials in NATO member Poland unveiled plans on Monday for fortifying and strengthening its eastern border with Russia and Moscow’s ally Belarus.
The Polish government asserts that it is facing hostile actions from Russia and Belarus, including cyberattacks, attempted arson, and illegal border crossings by migrants. These actions are viewed as attempts to destabilize the European Union, of which Poland is a member, and Poland supports Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s aggression.
Reports indicate that Poland, along with Finland, Norway, and the Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, has agreed to implement fortifications to protect its border with Russia and Ukraine.
Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite announced the plan following discussions with counterparts from the Baltic nations, Finland, Norway, and Poland. “This is a completely new thing, a drone wall stretching from Norway to Poland, and the goal is to use drones and other technologies to protect our borders,” Bilotaite told the news agency BNS.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government in Poland has devised a range of security measures, including investments of around $2.5 billion into eastern border security, known as Shield-East. Work on the shield has already commenced.
Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and armed forces Chief of Staff Gen. Wiesław Kukuła are detailing the enhancements to border protection, which include modern blockades, fortifications, and surveillance aimed at deterring potential aggressors.
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The Defense Ministry states that the system will be part of a regional defense infrastructure constructed jointly with the Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia — all of which are on NATO’s eastern flank.
Shield-East will “significantly strengthen the nation’s resilience to military threats from the east, limit the mobility of the adversary’s troops, and provide greater freedom of action and survival for our troops and civilians,” the ministry said.
Poland’s previous right-wing government constructed a $400 million wall on the border with Belarus to halt a massive influx of migrants in 2021. The current pro-EU government argues that it needs further reinforcement.
The Baltic states were once part of the Soviet Union, while Poland was a satellite state of the USSR until the 1990s. Moscow still regards the region as within its sphere of interests.
