WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is investing about $2.5 billion to boost security and deterrence on its border with Russia and its ally Belarus, the prime minister said Saturday.
Donald Tusk said that work on the Shield-East project, which includes the construction of good military fortifications, has already begun. Poland lies on the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union and Tusk emphasized that the country bears additional responsibility for Europe’s security.
“We have made the decision to invest in our security and first of all in a secure eastern border, about 10 billion zloty ($2.5 billion),” Tusk said.
“We are opening a major project for the construction of a secure border, including a system of fortifications and for the shaping of terrain, (of) environmental decisions that will make this border impenetrable to a potential enemy,” Tusk said.
“We started this work to make Poland’s border secure in times of peace, and impenetrable to an enemy in times of war,” he added.
He addressed Polish troops in Krakow, in the south, to mark 80 years since the Allied victory in the Battle of Monte Cassino against the Nazis during World War II.
Poland’s previous right-wing government built a $400 million wall on the border with Belarus to stem the massive influx of migrants that began to be pushed from that direction in 2021, but the current pro- EU government says this needs to be strengthened.
Poland is a staunch ally of Ukraine in its defensive war against the Russian invasion.
