WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
Poland plans to spend 2.5 billion euros by 2028 to build the Eastern Shield, which it hopes will protect itself from a possible attack from Russia or Belarus.
“We want to be strong enough to avoid war. The Russian attack on Ukraine forced us to take appropriate measures to be ready for a possible threat,” General Stanislav Ćosnek, who is leading the Eastern Shield project, told a group of Brussels correspondents.
The Polish government, which took over the rotating presidency on January 1, hosted a group of Brussels correspondents to show how seriously it takes security as the top priority of its presidency.
At the Polovtsi-Peszta border crossing between Poland and Belarus, which has been closed since 2023 due to migrant pressure, the atmosphere is reminiscent of the Cold War era. Behind a metal fence topped with barbed wire every few meters, soldiers in full combat gear stand, staring intently toward Belarus.
General Čosnek says they have learned their lesson from the Russian attack on Ukraine. “Experience shows us that the situation in Ukraine today might have been different if they had been better prepared. We want to be ready for any aggressive move by Russia,” says Čosnek.
Construction of the Eastern Shield began last summer. By 2028, it is planned to build multiple lines of defense along 800 kilometers of the eastern border - along the border with Belarus, along the border with the Kaliningrad region, a Russian exclave squeezed between Poland and Lithuania with access to the Baltic Sea, and along the Suwalki Corridor, a sparsely populated area between Poland and Lithuania that is strategically important because it is the only land connection between the Baltic states and the rest of the European Union. This corridor is likely to be the one Russia would try to cut in the event of an attack on the Baltics.
Along 500 kilometers of Poland's eastern border, a 400-meter-wide strip is planned, inside which there will be an anti-tank trench and concrete obstacles, the so-called dragon's teeth.
Each of these three-legged concrete elements weighs 1.7 tons, and they are interconnected by thick steel cables.
A second row of these physical obstacles will be installed a little further, and between them anti-tank mines will be placed, which will be placed only in the event of an imminent threat of invasion.
"The entire border with Belarus will be physically and electronically protected by next April," says Brigadier General Robert Bagan.
In addition to physical barriers, electronic protection systems, thermal imaging cameras, and motion detectors are also being installed. Measures are also planned to enhance the mobility of Polish forces by strengthening bridges so that they can withstand the crossing of armored vehicles.
A 5.5-meter-high metal fence has been installed along the 186 kilometers of the border with Belarus and the Kaliningrad region, additionally secured with barbed wire.
