Poland eyes fortifications on its border with Belarus

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Defense officials in NATO member Poland presented plans on Monday for fortifying its eastern border with Moscow ally Belarus.

The government says that Poland, which supports Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s aggression, is being targeted by hostile actions from Russia and Belarus. They include cyberattacks, attempted arson and migrants being pushed illegally across the border, which officials describe as intended to destabilize the European Union, of which Poland is a member.

The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has planned a range of security measures including in cyberspace, as well as some $2.5 billion investment into eastern border security, known as Shield-East. He said last week that work on the shield has begun.

Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and the armed forces chief of staff, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, are presenting the details of the border protection enhancement, including modern blockades, fortifications and surveillance that seek to deter any potential aggressor.

The Defense Ministry says the system will be an element of regional defense infrastructure built jointly with the Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — that are also on NATO’s eastern flank.

Shield-East will “significantly strengthen the nation’s resilience to military threats from the east, it will limit the mobility of the adversary’s troops while offering a greater freedom of action and survival to our own troops and to civilians,” the ministry said.

Poland’s previous right-wing government built a $400 million wall on the border with Belarus to halt a massive inflow of migrants that began to be pushed from that direction in 2021. The current pro-EU government says it needs to be strengthened.

The three Baltic states were once part of the Soviet Union, while Poland was a satellite state of the USSR before the 1990s. Moscow still regards the area as within its sphere of interests.

波兰华沙（美联社）——北约成员国波兰的国防官员周一提出了加强其与莫斯科盟友白俄罗斯东部边界的计划。

波兰政府表示，波兰支持乌克兰抵御俄罗斯的侵略，因此正遭受来自俄罗斯和白俄罗斯的敌对行动。这些行动包括网络攻击、纵火未遂以及非法驱赶移民越境。波兰官员称，这些行动旨在破坏欧盟的稳定，而波兰正是欧盟成员国之一。

唐纳德·图斯克总理领导的政府计划采取一系列安全措施，包括网络安全措施，以及向东部边境安全部门投资约25亿美元，即“东部之盾”计划。他上周表示，“东部之盾”计划的建设工作已经启动。

国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什和武装部队总参谋长维斯瓦夫·库库瓦将军正在介绍加强边境保护的细节，包括旨在阻止任何潜在侵略者的现代化封锁、防御工事和监视措施。

国防部表示，该系统将成为与波罗的海三国（立陶宛、拉脱维亚和爱沙尼亚）共同建设的区域防御基础设施的一部分，这三个国家也位于北约东翼。

国防部表示，“东方之盾”将“显著增强国家应对来自东方的军事威胁的能力，限制敌军的机动性，同时为我军和平民提供更大的行动自由和生存保障”。

波兰前右翼政府斥资 4 亿美元在与白俄罗斯的边境修建了一堵墙，以阻止自 2021 年以来从该方向涌入的大量移民。现任亲欧盟政府表示，这堵墙需要加固。

波罗的海三国曾是苏联的一部分，而波兰在20世纪90年代之前是苏联的卫星国。莫斯科至今仍将该地区视为其势力范围。