EU Commission President: Six Countries to Receive €170 Million for Protecting of EU Borders From Russia, Belarus

Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Norway will receive €170 million from the European Union to protect the border with Russia and Belarus. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, wrote about this on the social network X.

‘They guard our common borders. That's why today we are providing €170 million to support their efforts,’ she said after a conversation with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.

The European Commission's website states that Estonia will receive €19.4 million, Finland €50 million, Latvia €17 million, Lithuania €15.4 million, Poland €52 million, and Norway €16.4 million.

The funds will be used to upgrade electronic surveillance equipment, improve telecommunications networks and deploy mobile equipment to detect and counter unmanned aerial vehicle intrusions.

In early 2023, Finland began construction of barriers along the border with Russia, fearing that the Russian side could facilitate the infiltration of migrants from third countries. A similar migration crisis already took place in 2021, when thousands of migrants from Africa and the Middle East tried to enter Poland from Belarus and further to other EU countries.

Poland is also implementing a project called the Eastern Shield, which is designed to protect 800 kilometres along the borders of NATO countries with Russia and Belarus. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called the development of military fortifications an ‘investment in peace’.