The funding will be used to build a network of warehouses, barriers, distribution lines, and military depots along its borders with Russia and Belarus, Estonia said.

The three Baltic countries, all of which are NATO members, first announced the plan for a “Baltic Defense Line” in January. Then, in May, Poland announced a similar plan called “Eastern Shield” to strengthen its borders with Kaliningrad and Belarus.

Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland are working to secure additional EU funding to strengthen the defence of the EU/NATO Eastern border. Defence Ministers met in Daugavpils today to emphasize the need for NATO and EU focus on our joint countermobility initiative.

The need for a Baltic defence line stems from the security situation and supports NATO’s new advanced defense concept, Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said, adding that it is extremely important to coordinate their activities with Poland.

At the same time, it strengthens the security of the European Union and the military defence of its borders, which is why the EU could also financially support the project, he said.

The defence ministers of the four European countries on NATO’s eastern flank met on Friday in the southeastern Latvian city of Daugavpils to discuss funding for the project.

They did not specify how much financial assistance they would seek from Brussels for the project but noted in a joint statement that Russia’s war against Ukraine has shown that creating physical barriers in an open terrain without physical defensive cover is of the utmost importance even in technologically advanced warfare.

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The ministers said that external threats on the Baltic-Polish border were increasing and strengthening fortifications along the borders with Russia and Belarus remained a high priority, helping to deliver on their pledge to defend every inch of NATO territory.

The defence line does not include the coastal defences in the Baltic Sea shared by the four countries.

In Estonia, the smallest of the four countries with a population of 1.3 million, the creation of the border defence line is planned in three stages, starting in 2025, the defence ministry said.

Officials in Tallinn said earlier this year that Estonia is to build up to 600 shelters along its 333 km border with Russia in the coming years at an estimated cost of 60 million euros. The project is likely to face difficulties and delays, however, because the shelters will have to be built on private land.

Poland expects the defence line to be operational in 2028 at a cost of around €2.3 billion, while the cost in Lithuania is expected to reach €300 million.

No mines, barbed wire, anti-tank weapons, or other such devices will be deployed along the border fortifications in peacetime, according to Estonian defence officials.

Source: Euronews 

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