EUROPE is looking to build a giant 1,500 mile defensive line to protect itself from a chilling Vladimir Putin invasion.
Poland and the Baltics are planning to create the £2.2billion blockade to keep Russia from advancing through the continent as the threat of WW3 looms.
Russia has continued its relentless assault on Ukraine in recent weeks including in busy residential areasCredit: GettyRussia is more than two years into its bloody war with UkraineCredit: EPA
The brave allied nations revealed the plans on Wednesday as they asked the European Union for help with the project.
Leaders from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia all claim a protective blockade is essential to protect Europe from a dangerous Moscow.
Putin has been ramping up his military threats among other worrying activities as he repeatedly tells the West to avoid getting involved in his war in Ukraine.
The leaders of the four countries who put together the plan described the need for extra protection as “dire and urgent”.
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They added all 27 EU states will be protected by the bloc including over 450 million people.
It will stretch around 1,471 miles and could potentially be shored up with minefields, anti-tank ditches and bunkers.
Belarus, who are regarded as one of Russia’s proxies alongside Kaliningrad, have also been cordoned off in the proposal.
A letter to the chairman of the EU was seen by Reuters who claim it said: “Extraordinary measures need to be employed as the EU’s external border must be protected and defended with military and civilian means.
“Building a defence infrastructure system along the EU external border with Russia and Belarus will address the dire and urgent need to secure the EU from military and hybrid threats.”
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The EU chair is expected to discuss the proposal at a summit in Brussels which started on Thursday.
Investment into defence systems and warfare is expected to be the main topic at the crunch meeting.
Europe’s biggest worry is over Russia’s military capabilities but the line will also deal with a number of threats away from the battleground.
Plans to filter through misinformation, swat away cyberattacks and cope with increasing economic pressure are also being addressed.
As are the fears of an increased number of migrants being pushed across the borders.
Poland accused Russia of flying thousands of suspected asylum seekers into Moscow last month before trying to ship them across EU eastern borders.
Countries in Europe have long been sharing concerns about a potential world conflict with Russia – as he pushes forward with his illegal war in Ukraine.
Poland shares a 130-mile border with Russian territory Kaliningrad and an 170-mile one with Belarus.
It’s government said the country is being targeted by Russian aggression via those frontiers.
Putin has already threatened Europe with war as he continues to bombard UkraineCredit: APEmergency services in Kharkiv battle against a fire following a Russian air strikeCredit: GettyUkraine’s own line of defence with 42,000 concrete ‘dragon’s teeth’ along barbed wire-lined trenchesCredit: Reuters
The extraordinary price tag on the bloc is expected to be met as part of a unified effort through what has been labelled as “a dedicated EU action” plan.
EU diplomats say such a barrier could cost upwards of £2.2billion.
The letter also suggested that Nato could help out in funding and constructing the defensive line.
As well as deploying military personnel along the bloc.
Last month, plans for a similar £2billion 430-mile line of military defences was announced by Poland.
The name of the proposal was dubbed the “Tusk Line” after Polish PM Donald Tusk announced the new program.
He said it would make Nato’s eastern border “impassable to a potential enemy”.
The line of defence would have included steel barriers, reinforced steel hedgehogs, pallisades, trenches, tank traps and planned minefields.
They announced the wall, which looks to have now been extended in the new plans, could be finished by 2028.
Inside France’s formidable Maginot Line
IN the 1930s France constructed an elaborate defensive barrier in the northeast to protect them from potential German attacks after World War 1.
Named after its creator Andre Maginot, the line was seen as a permanent linear system to avoid disastrous cross-border assaults.
It was made of thick concrete blocks built to withstand the advancing troops as well as iron and steel reinforcements.
The French had even managed to build in heavier guns loaded with stronger ammunition.
After it was built many soldiers compared it to a modern city die to its safe feel, comfort and space.
The line was air conditioned in places and even had an in-built recreation room, bedrooms and a railway line underground.
However when World War 2 erupted the Germans found a way around the seemingly formidable wall by going through Belgium.
Hitler’s men invaded Belgium in 1939 before crossing into France through the Somme River and into Sedan with tanks and planes.
After the war, it was used sporadically until 1969 when operations ended.
It is now preserved by the French Government.
Tusk said Alexander Lukashenk, Belarus’ dictator president, is pushing a “hybrid war of migration” on Poland.
He said: “Those are not refugees, those are less and less migrants, families, poor people needing help.
“In 80 per cent of the cases, these are organised groups of men, aged 18 to 30, very aggressive.”
Ukraine built its own line of defence with 42,000 concrete “dragon’s teeth” along barbed wire-lined trenches.
The 600-mile wall is made from anti-tank obstacles, underground bunkers and fortified trenches.
Only days ago, one of Putin’s cronies appeared on State TV to deliver a disturbing warning to other Nato states.
Major Nikolay Plotnikov said the warmonger president needs to correct a “historical mistake” to bring Russia back to Soviet glory.
He believes Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, former Russian dictators, caused an “injustice” by letting the territories go.
Now the Putin crony thinks Moscow should take back the Baltic strongholds.
He also took the opportunity to threaten the same countries, telling them to stop showing support for Ukraine during Vlad’s illegal war.
The Baltic republics have been boosting their land defences against Russia throughout more than two years of war.
In May, The Sun spoke to several former army generals who warned that Putin is looking to expand is sea borders in a move against Nato countries.
Putin’s defence ministry announced a shock bid to change Russian maritime borders with Finland and Lithuania last Wednesday.
Russia is reportedly planning to take over Gotland – east of Sweden – which General Richard Shirreff says would give Putin dangerous levels of control in the Baltics.
Polish armed forces’ Chief of Staff Wieslaw Kukula, right, with Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk on Monday – explaining the features of the ‘Tusk Line’
Source link : https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/28792383/europe-plan-defence-line-poland-baltics-putin-ww3/amp/
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Publish date : 2024-06-27 11:22:45
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