Poland and Baltic States Urge EU to Fund Defence Line on Border with Russia and Belarus

Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have called on the European Union to build a defence line along the bloc's border with Russia and Belarus to protect the EU from military threats and other harmful actions by Moscow.

In a letter to the EU president scheduled to be discussed at a summit in Brussels that began on Thursday, the leaders of the four countries that share borders with Russia and Belarus said the project to protect the 27-nation bloc of 450 million people also needs financial support from all members.

"Building a system of defence infrastructure along the EU's external border with Russia and Belarus will address the acute and urgent need to protect the EU from military and hybrid threats," the four leaders said in a letter seen by Reuters.

Hybrid threats refer to a combination of military and non-military, as well as covert and overt means, including disinformation, cyberattacks, economic pressure and pushing migrants across borders.

In Brussels, ahead of the EU leaders' summit, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed that Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia had called on the EU to build a defensive line along the border with Russia and Belarus.  

In response to a journalist's question whether this was a new "Iron Curtain" in Europe, the prime minister said he did not like this comparison, because in fact it was quite the opposite.

"After all, our initiative is to defend our countries against aggressive Russia and Belarus. This aggressive behaviour on our borders is our daily experience, not only in Poland," Tusk said. 

As a reminder, this month, Poland re-established a buffer zone on its eastern border with Belarus after a Polish soldier was fatally stabbed during an attack by armed "illegal migrants" backed by Belarusian security forces.