Since the onset of aggression of the Russian war against Ukraine in February 2022, there has been rarely more pressure for NATO than protecting its eastern borders.
In the last three years, five of the six NATO countries that share a border with Russia or Belarus – Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – have already secured significant investment, for example, with fences and monitoring systems.
But now, a new plan is in the works: land mines.
Eastern NATO members increase border security
Five NATO countries recently announced their return from the Treaty of Ottawa Convention, 1997, banning anti-pursal mines worldwide and restricting their use, production and transfer. Only Norway, which shares a range of about 200 kilometers (124-mile) with Russia, wants to stick to the treaty.
Search mines are highly controversial, as they can be a threat to both soldiers and citizens. Unclear mines remain a long -term threat after the end of a conflict: in 2023, around 6,000 people worldwide were killed or injured by land mines. Some 80% of suffering citizens were, including many children.
Clearing thesis explosive equipment is dangerous, expensive and extremely time -consuming. According to the non -governmental organization Handicap International, 58 countries around the world and others are still corrupted with land mines, even though some underlying struggles have ended decades ago.
From the end of 2025, thesis may resume the production and storage of anti-parsnell mines near the five NATO countries. In case of emergency, thesis mines will be deployed quickly.
While 164 countries worldwide have signed the Ottawa Convention, there are no 33. In addition to the major powers of America and China, it included Russia. In fact, Kremlin has an estimated 26 million with the world’s largest stockpile anti-Personal mines so far. Many of these are already being used in Ukraine.
New ‘Iron Curtain’
From Finnish Lapland to the north to the polish province of Lubels in the south, the range between five NATO states and Russia and Belarus is about 3,500 km (2150 mi) long. Most thesis are sparsery populated and denied forests, making them difficult to monitor the area.
Nevertheless, there is a lot of concern about a possible Russian attack on the NATO region. According to a report in the British newspaper WireNATO experts are already analyzed Areas can be targetedNATO countries aim to maximize deteriorating: along with other border security measures, the mines aim to discover heavy losses on the least time the enemy, who avoids Moscow W Wasland for a long time.
Many million mines and other hidden explosives will be required to effectively protect the long border. The larger areas will be uninhabited for decades, and it is almost impossible to predict potential losses to people and environment.
David Blair, for foreign correspondent WireDuring the Cold War, the plan is separated as a new, explosive “Iron Curtain”, which hugely protects the border border NATO and Warsaw Pact states. In addition to mines, Eastern NATO states have already introduced several other measures, standing or reinforcing the border fences and walls, installing modern monitoring and early warning systems and strengthening troops.
Some countries are planning to deploy drone defense systems along the border and deepen irrigation systems to be used as trenches in emergency. They aim to plant trees with important roads to provide camouflage for citizens and soldiers.
Is the land mines appropriate, ‘or there is indiscriminate threat?
Lithuania is especially weak, especially weak between the Russian excluded of the Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast and the east Belarus. A narrow, 65-km land connection-suicide-left gap-left Baltic states and Poland, causing the region to become a possible target for an early Russian attack.
Therefore, Villnius is planning to invest around € 800 million ($ 937 million) in the production of new land mines in the coming years. Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakali has defended the strategy while talking about “existential threats” for his country. Russia has rapidly manufactured mines in recent years, explaining, while Europe destroyed its own stockpiles in the context of Ottawa Convention.
Eva Maria Fisher, head of advocacy in Handicap International Germany, believes the land mine plan is a dangerous and worrying development. Fisher said in March, “Of course, the security concerns of the Eastern European states can be justified in the current unstable international context,” when Poland and three Baltic states in March announced a plan to withdraw from the first treaty.
He said, “However, permanent security cannot be made on weapons that indiscriminately kill, live in the ground for a long time at the end of a conflict and mimulate citizens and destroy livelihood,” he said. “There are options to defend a country. Thesis may seem more expensive, but they do not occur when you consider the huge follow-up cost of using anti-Personal mines.”
This article was original in German.
