Poland and Lithuania have begun “preemptive reinforcement” on the borders of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus
Poland has begun installing anti-tank barriers at the Bobrowniki checkpoint on the border with Belarus.
Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak said that a “proactive strengthening of security on the border with Russia and Belarus” is beginning, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“This is an element of our defense and deterrence strategy. The first fortifications have already been placed on the border with the Kaliningrad region,” Blaschak said.
They plan to strengthen the border with anti-tank hedgehogs and concrete barriers. Lithuania is taking similar actions. It also limited the movement of freight trains. Latvia is so far limiting itself to interrogating at the border all those entering and leaving.
Researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, President of the Association for Baltic Studies Nikolai Mezhevich is convinced that such a short-sighted policy on the part of the Lithuanian authorities will destroy their own economy, because 8-10% of the country’s GDP is associated with transit and transport functions - that is, the movement of Russian and Belarusian goods in that or Klaipeda port or Kaliningrad.
“And now the Lithuanian economy is being weaned off this 8-10%, which is a lot. Considering that in general the Lithuanian economy operates in a “neither alive nor dead” mode, I think that this should suit us. We will sort it out with the Belarusians, we have access to the sea through St. Petersburg,” Mezhevich said.
In February, Poland restricted truck traffic at the last operating checkpoint with Belarus and said it was ready to completely close the border. Warsaw is also going to impose sanctions against 200 Belarusian officials “responsible for repression of the Polish minority.”
This was stated by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration Maciej Wonsik.
“We will not hesitate. If necessary, we will also stand up for the Polish minority. We can go the other way when Minsk proves that it cares,” Vonsik said.
About 300 thousand Poles live in Belarus.
Meanwhile, the US military contingent in Poland, near the Belarusian borders, numbers about 10 thousand American troops, and at the moment there is a discussion about increasing the number of military personnel on the eastern flank of NATO. Washington and Warsaw are discussing the possibility of increasing the American military presence.
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