Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the government launched the East Shield Project . It includes building fortifications of the eastern border that will cost PLN 10 billion. Poland follows in the footsteps of the Baltic States, Finland and South Korea.
During a recent press conference, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced the East Shield Project . The plan is to strengthen the eastern border of Poland by erecting fortifications, reinforcements and afforestation.
„We have made the decision to invest PLN 10 billion in our security, and above all in a secure eastern border. We are starting a great project to build a secure border, we are already spending the 10 billion zlotys, we have started this work, so that the Polish border would be safe in times of peace, so that it would be an impassable border for the enemy in times of war. We called this national defense and deterrence plan the East Shield, ” the Prime Minister said.
„We are strengthening the security of Poland! We will invest PLN 10 billion in strengthening the protection of the eastern border. The new East Shield program is a project to build wide fortifications that will ensure that our border will be impassable for the enemy. The security of Poland is our priority! ,” Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Minister of National Defence tweeted.
According to Donald Tusk, Poland will be secure thanks to cooperation with the West, the European dome (air defence system) that will cover Poland, fortified borders as part of the East Shield, a Polish satellite program developed with EU money, well-trained and equipped soldiers and a ruthless reaction from the state towards foreign intelligence and attempts at diversion.
The Polish Press Agency (PAP) asked Cezary Tomczyk, Deputy Minister of National Defense, about the details of the program.
„The East Shield is a set of actions, the most important of which is the construction of a belt of fortifications on the entire eastern border and in the north, on the border with Russia. These will include, among other things, natural terrain obstacles and fortifications and bunkers,” he told the Agency.
According to the Deputy Minister, the East Shield is a project created jointly by the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Climate, the Ministry of State Assets and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration. He also added that Poland had talked with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, drawing on the experience of the Baltic defense line they were building. In addition, Poland benefits from the experience of Finland and South Korea.
The investment is planned for „several years”. An inter-ministerial team consisting of the five ministries is to be set up.
„I participated in the meetings on this issue, I strongly support the project, a great thing. The Ministry of National Defense has prepared this very carefully. It makes a lot of sense to spend on such things,” Tomasz Siemoniak, Minister of the Interior and Administration and Minister of National Defence in 2011-2015, said in an interview with Zet Radio.
Mariusz Błaszczak, Minister of National Defence in the Government of Mateusz Morawiecki, also commented on the project.
„Tusk’s East Shield project, which was announced with such a bang, is a plan that we had designed and started to implement at the Ministry of Defence. This package of measures is needed to strengthen security at the border, which is provided primarily by the barrier built when Law and Justice was in power and the soldiers and officers sent to that region also during the times when we ruled, ” he wrote.
PM’s Chancellery / X / Polish Press Agency / Radio Zet / Marcin Karwowski