Poland and Baltic states request defence line on border with Russia and Belarus
Pravda Ukraine
Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have called on the European Union on Wednesday to build a defence line along their border with Russia and Belarus to protect the EU from military threats and other harmful actions from Moscow.
Source: Reuters
Details: In a letter addressed to the EU chairman, which will be discussed at the summit in Brussels on Thursday, the leaders of the four countries bordering Russia and Belarus emphasised that the project, designed to protect the 27-nation bloc and its 450 million citizens, will also require financial support from all member states.
Quote: “Building a defence infrastructure system along the EU external border with Russia and Belarus will address the dire and urgent need to secure the EU from military and hybrid threats.”
More details: Hybrid threats encompass a mix of military and non-military tactics, both covert and overt, including disinformation, cyberattacks, economic pressure and the movement of migrants across borders.
According to the letter, the scope and cost of these collective efforts demand specific EU measures for their political and financial backing.
Some EU diplomats have estimated the cost of building such a defence line along the EU’s 700-kilometre border with Russia and Belarus to be around €2.5 billion (US$2.67 billion).
European investment in defence and its financing will be a central topic of discussion among EU leaders at the summit, as Russia’s war against Ukraine enters its third year and Moscow intensifies hybrid operations against the West.
The call for joint funding of a land defence line on the EU’s eastern border follows a previous Greece and Poland’s initiative to establish an EU air defence system modelled after Israel’s Iron Dome, which would coordinate the currently separate air defence systems of EU member states.
The letter pointed out that the planning and construction of the defence line on the EU’s eastern border should be coordinated with NATO and its military requirements.
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