The Baltic states announced plans alongside Norway, Finland and Poland to construct a “drone wall” along their shared borders with Russia on Sunday.
Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets said the technology is capable of both detecting and repelling drones, adding that his country plans to install the barrier along its entire eastern border as well as around its major cities.
“As we can see on the Ukrainian front, there is a constant technological race between adversaries and new ways to use drones in warfare. The same is true for the various drones that people have access to. Being even a small step ahead of the opponent leads to greater success, but this success can be measured in days, as countermeasures are discovered with alarming speed for each measure, and the cycle continues,” Läänemets said.
“There is no question whether this is necessary, as even the smallest drones have already proven their worth as reconnaissance and offensive weapons,” he added.
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The Baltic states announced plans alongside Norway, Finland and Poland to construct a “drone wall” along their shared borders with Russia on Sunday.
The announcement comes days after Russia itself announced that it plans to change its maritime borders in the Baltic Sea. Lithuania’s foreign minister responded last week, calling it an “obvious escalation” that must be met with an “appropriately firm response.”
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Russia’s Defense Ministry suggested updating the coordinates used to measure the strip of territorial waters off its mainland coast and that of its islands in the Baltic Sea. The existing coordinates were approved in 1985, the ministry says, adding they were “based on small-scale nautical navigation maps,” and don’t correspond to the “modern geographical situation.”
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen attends a press conference near the border with Russia in Virolahti, Finland, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. As the war in Ukraine continues, borders are being bolstered in the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as in Finland and Poland. (Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via AP)
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Russia had signed a United Nations convention that regulates how to make such changes. “Both we and Finland assume that Russia – which is a signatory party to that convention – lives up to that responsibility,” he said, according to Swedish news agency TT.
If Russians were to challenge borders, “then Russia violates a U.N. convention, then Russia has the whole world against it,” Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said, according to Finnish broadcaster YLE.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters there was “nothing political” in the Defense Ministry’s proposal. (Getty Images)
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters there was “nothing political” in the Defense Ministry’s proposal.
“You see how tensions and the level of confrontation are escalating, especially in the Baltic region. This requires appropriate steps from our relevant bodies to ensure our security,” Peskov said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
