Eastern Europe plans new ‘Iron Curtain’ against Putin

Five of the six NATO countries from Russia and Belarus neighbors will protect their borders with terrestrial mines ‘rug’ against eventual invasion. Use of explosives is highly controversial. Both Ukraine and Russia have been using land mines since Kremlin launched its war of assault in February 2022. Christophe Gateau/DPA7Picture Alliance via DW since Russia launched its war against Ukraine in February 2022, few issues have been as urgent for NATA as the defense of its borders in Easy European. Over the past three years, five of the six Military Alliance countries bordering Russia or Belarus – Filnândia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – have made significant investments to better protect these borders, for example, with fences and surveillance systems. Now there is a new plan in progress: terrestrial mines. These five NATO countries recently announced their departure from the Ottawa Convention, an international treaty of 1997 that prohibits the use, production and transfer of anti -personal mines. Norway, which shares about 200 kilometers from Russia border, is the only one that so far wants to follow in the deal. As a result, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland may restart the production and storage of anti -personal mines near the border from the end of 2025. This will allow them to be quickly used in case of emergency. During this weekend, news circulated that Ukraine will also leave the deal. West Border of Russia Gui Sousa/G1 Art Editorial because land mines are internationally convicted of anti -personal mines are extremely controversial because, once left behind, they threaten indiscriminately both soldiers and civilians – and even many years after the end of a conflict. To get an idea, by 2023 almost 6,000 people in the world were killed or injured by these explosives; About 80% were civilians, often children. Removing these artifacts is dangerous, extremely laborious and costly. The non -governmental organization Handicap International has 58 countries and other regions of the world still contaminated with terrestrial mines, although some of the underlying conflicts have been over for decades. Construction work of a fence on the border between Finland and Russia on April 14, 2023 in Imratra, Finland. Alessandro Rampazzo / AFP What countries banned the terrestrial mines? The Ottawa Convention, also known as the Anti -Peressal Mines Prohibition Convention or Minas Gerais Treaty, was signed by 164 countries and is ignored by 33 nations, including the United States, China and Russia. Kremlin has by far the largest inventory of anti -personal mines in the world, about 26 million. Many of these devices are already in use in Ukraine. New ‘iron curtain’? From the Finnish lapony in the far north of Europe to the Polish province of Lublin, the five NATO countries share a border of about 3,500 kilometers long with Russia and Belarus. Most of these areas are poorly populated and dense forest, which makes their vigilance difficult. The concern is great with a possible Russian attack on the NATO territory there. According to a report in the British newspaper “The Telegraph”, alliance experts are already analyzing which areas could be targeted. With the mines, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland bet on the maximum deterrent: combined with other border safety measures, the goal is to inflict as much losses as soon as possible in case of invasion, so that Moscow refrains from a prolonged war. Iran and Russia officials react to US attack would probably be necessary several million mines and other hidden explosives to effectively protect the extensive frontier. Large areas would become uninhabitable for decades, and it is almost impossible to predict potential damage to people and the environment. In addition to mines, countries in NATO’s eastern flank are also lifting or reinforcing borders’ fences and walls, installing modern surveillance and early alert systems and strengthening military contingents. Some of these countries also plan to implement drone defense systems along the border and deepen irrigation systems to use them as trenches in an emergency case, as well as planting trees along roads important to camouflage civilians and soldiers. The plan was described in “The Telegraph” by international correspondent David Blair as a new and explosive “iron curtain” – allegation to the strongly watched border between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries at the time of the Cold War. Is there a justification for using land mines? Lithuania, the country on the coast of the squeezed Baltic Sea between the exclave of Kaliningrad (Russian region separated from the rest of the Russian territory) and Belarus, is particularly vulnerable. There, south of the country, a narrow 65 -kilometer land strip separates the two neighbors: it is the Suwalki corridor, which connects the Baltic countries to Poland and is therefore considered a probable target for an initial Russian attack. Therefore, Lithuania wants to invest in the next few years about 800 million euros (R $ 5.1 billion) in the production of new terrestrial mines. The strategy was defended by Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene in the face of what she called “existential threat” to her country. According to her, Russia has made more and more Minas Gerais in recent years, while Europe has destroyed its own stocks according to the terms of the Ottawa Convention. Eva Maria Fischer, Handicap International’s Advocacy Chief in Germany, considers the terrestrial mines plan a dangerous and alarming sign. “Of course the security concerns of the countries of Eastern Europe can be justified in the current unstable international context,” Fischer pointed out in March, when Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia announced their plans to withdraw from the treaty. “However, lasting security cannot be built with weapons that kill indiscriminately, remain on the ground much after the end of a conflict and continue to mutilate civilians and destroy subsistence means,” he argued. “There are alternatives to defend a country. They may seem more expensive, but they are not, when considering the huge later costs of the use of anti -personal mines.” Also read: Keeping an eye on Ukraine and Iran, NATO announces expansion of spending and investments in Air Defense and War Tanks Finland concludes first stretch of fence on the border with Russia video shows Russian soldiers being persecuted and attacked by drones from Ukraine

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