MADRID 30 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, visited the northeastern area of the country this Saturday, near the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, where a first section of the ‘eastern shield’ project has already been promoted, an initiative to guarantee border security with Russia and Belarus, and which will extend to Ukraine.
Tusk already announced in mid-October the launch of the project, which contemplates the reinforcement of border security with “various infrastructure elements, such as concrete hedges and anti-tank ditches”, but also took advantage of “elements of the natural environment”, according to the Polish news agency PAP.
Although this project was initially planned for the more than 800 kilometers of border shared with Russia and Belarus, the Polish president announced this Saturday the intention to expand the initiative to the nearly 430 kilometers of border with Ukraine. Poland would thus completely shield its eastern flank.
“Our activities will also concern the security of the border with Ukraine, for other reasons, but we want Poles to feel safer along the entire eastern border,” said Prime Minister Tusk from near Dabrowka, in the northeastern corner of the country.
“The better the Polish border is guarded, the less accessible it will be to those with bad intentions. Everything we are doing here, and we will also do on the border with Belarus and Ukraine, is aimed at deterring and discouraging a potential aggressor, so which is an investment in peace,” he stressed.
The Polish Prime Minister has acknowledged that this project will mean “billions of zlotys” for the public coffers, but has expressed his conviction that “all of Europe watches with great satisfaction and will support these investments.” Specifically, he referred to the cooperation of the Baltic countries.
The project consists of a million-dollar investment in security for the construction of fortifications and border barriers, as well as for the acquisition of drones and defense material, also including a reinforcement of military personnel on the borders with Russia and Belarus, and now also Ukraine.
Since 2021, Poland has repeatedly denounced Belarus for using the refugee crisis on the border to pressure the country in retaliation for the sanctions launched by the European Union against the Government of Alexander Lukashenko after his controversial re-election in the 2020 elections. .
Coinciding with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the situation has worsened with Poland insisting on its complaints towards Belarus for trying to destabilize kyiv’s partners. The European Union, for its part, has stressed that the ‘eastern shield’ cannot be at odds with respect for international standards, including community asylum laws.