Poland looks to spend $2.6 billion on military infrastructure along its eastern border
FILE PHOTO: Polish President Andrzej Duda. © Omar Marques / Getty Images
Warsaw is building a new ‘Iron Curtain’ on its eastern border, Polish President Andrzej Duda told the British newspaper The Times over the weekend, rejecting the negative connotations of the Cold War-era term.
Poland has already erected a long steel fence along the border with Belarus to prevent would-be immigrants from crossing it illegally and intends to spend some $2.6 billion on military fortifications, anti-drone systems, munition depots and observation posts under its ‘East Shield’ program, which was announced in May.
“Some politicians in the West look at this with horror. The last thing they want to see is the Iron Curtain being rebuilt,” Duda told the newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
“I will say this: if the security of my compatriots is to be safeguarded by the Iron Curtain being put up again, then OK, there will be an Iron Curtain as long as we are on the free side of it,” he declared.
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British Prime Minister Winston Churchill popularized the term for the division of Europe between Soviet and Western spheres of influence in his 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri – an event widely considered as the starting point of the Cold War.
Poland is investing almost 5% of its GDP into military spending and touts itself as a NATO bulwark in the east. In that sense, “Warsaw is taking on the role that West Germany once played in the hottest years of the Cold War,” The Times on Sunday mused. The country has also been one of the staunchest supporters and funders of Kiev’s war effort.
Duda is an ally of the previous conservative government formed by the Law and Justice party, whose term in office will end in May. The previous cabinet was removed from power after losing the parliamentary election last year, but the change has not significantly affected Poland’s stance on Russia amid the Ukraine conflict.
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Polish officials have described ‘East Shield’ as the largest strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank since 1945. Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said last week that the launch of construction will take place within days. Work is expected to be complete in 2028.
NATO’s expansion in Europe since the USSR’s collapse has been one of the key causes of the Ukraine conflict, according to Moscow.