HELSINKI (AP) — NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland will seek European Union funding to build a network of bunkers, barriers, distribution lines and military warehouses along their borders with Russia and Belarus, the officials said. Estonian officials Saturday.
The three Baltic countries initially announced the plan for a ‘Baltic defense line’ in January. Poland announced in May a similar project called the “Eastern Shield” with the aim of strengthening the borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus.
“The need for a (Baltic) defense line arises from the security situation and supports NATO’s new forward defense concept,” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said in a statement, adding that “it is extremely important to continue our activities with Poland to coordinate.”
“At the same time, it strengthens the security of the European Union and the military defense of its borders, and therefore we clearly see that the EU could also support the project financially,” he said.
The defense ministers of the four European countries are located at NATO’s eastern flank met on Friday in the southeastern Latvian city of Daugavpils to discuss financing the project.
They did not specify how much financial assistance Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland would request from Brussels for the project, but noted in a joint statement that “Russia’s war against Ukraine has shown that creating physical obstacles on open terrain without natural defense mechanisms coverage is of paramount importance, even in technologically advanced warfare.”
That’s what the ministers said The external threats on the Baltic-Polish border are increasing and increasing fortifications along the border with Russia and Belarus “remains a high priority that contributes to our commitment to defend every inch of (NATO) territory.”
In Estonia, the smallest of the four countries with a population of 1.3 million, construction of the border defense line is planned in three phases starting in 2025, the Defense Ministry said.
Officials in Tallinn said earlier this year that Estonia would build up to 600 bunkers along its 333-kilometer border with Russia in the coming years, at an estimated cost of 60 million euros. However, the project is likely to face difficulties and delays as the bunkers will have to be built on private land.
The Baltic-Polish defense line excludes coastal defense on the Baltic Sea, which is shared by the four countries. According to Estonian defense officials, no mines, barbed wire, anti-tank weapons or other similar devices would be deployed along the border fortifications in peacetime.