The Nordic NATO countries, Finland, Norway, Poland and the Baltic states, are planning to develop a «drone wall» to help protect their borders with Russia. This is prompted by a series of provocations by the latter: organizing migrant flows and attempting to change maritime borders. The governments have not provided information on how the «wall» will work.
The ministers of the six countries said they had discussed the creation of a coordinated drone system along their borders with Russia to prevent further provocations and to help in defense. Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen says the plan to create a drone wall will cover 1,340 kilometers of the border with Russia and will improve over time. Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite says that each country must do its «homework» in this matter and suggested using EU funds as well.
Earlier, Russia published proposals to unilaterally expand its maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland, but the plan was later removed. A day later, Russian border guards removed 25 buoys marking the border from Estonian waters, sparking outrage and reports of support for Tallinn from NATO and a number of states.
Many NATO countries believe that Russia may «test» NATO’s borders in the coming years, while intelligence services have detected a number of sabotage operations on their territory. Russia’s war against Ukraine has emphasized the importance of drones, as both sides have been actively using them. Several NATO countries have responded by creating or activating their own anti-drone units.
The six NATO countries also discussed plans to evacuate large parts of their populations in the event of a conflict. Finnish officials expressed surprise that Ukraine was keeping its civilian population on or near the front line, saying that their country’s defense plans call for the evacuation of border populations.
Source: Financial Times