Baltic States and Poland propose an EU defence line on border with Russia and Belarus
The four member states want to discuss the proposal at an EU summit starting on Thursday. The four countries, which border Russia and/or Belarus, say the construction of the defence line would require financial contributions from all member states.
The leaders of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania wrote in a letter that the defence line was needed because of "military and hybrid threats" from Russia and Belarus.
According to EU diplomats,
the defence line, which would cover a total of around 700 kilometres of the border, would cost €2.5 billion.
In May, Poland submitted an initiative together with Greece to set up a joint EU air defence system similar to Israel's Iron Dome.
Cover photo: Barbed wire on the triple border between Poland, Lithuania and Russia (Kaliningrad exclave). Source: Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images
