Poland, Baltics call on EU to build defense line along eastern border
Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have called on the European Union to build a line of defense along the border with Russia and Belarus to protect the EU from military threats and other harmful actions from Moscow, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The leaders of the four countries sent a letter to the EU president outlining the scale and costs of the project.
"The creation of a system of defense infrastructure along the external border of the EU with Russia and Belarus will meet the acute and urgent need to protect the EU from military and hybrid threats," the letter states.
Some EU officials estimate the cost of building this defense line along the EU's 700-kilometer border with Russia and Belarus to be around €2.5 billion.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania announced plans for a "Baltic Defense Line" earlier this year.
Speaking at a press conference at NATO in Brussels on Thursday, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) confirmed the letter had been sent and said it requires a "political decision".
She could not say how much the plans would cost or if the funding request would be successful.
General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg had nothing against EU funding. "How they fund that does not matter to NATO," he said, adding the only thing that matters is that they fulfill their plans.
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Editor: Helen Wright
