Lithuania To Build Anti-Tank Barriers On Border With Belarus

Vilnius will strengthen the border following the example of Warsaw.

Head of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense of Lithuania Laurynas Kasčiūnas believes that the country should consider building anti-tank barriers on the border, as Poland does, a target="_blank" href=https://www.delfi.lt/ru/>Delfi reports.

According to the politician, members of the National Security and Defense Council discussed fortification and other counter-mobility measures last summer, but there were no significant changes or institutional initiatives. Therefore, the head of the committee promises to raise this issue at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council and consider whether the Seimas should adopt a special law establishing counter-mobility measures.

“We came up with the idea to do the same — to build a fortification or apply other counter-mobile measures on the border of Lithuania with the Kaliningrad region and Belarus — at a meeting of the National Security Committee last summer. This is also included in the agreement of political parties on strengthening the protection of the region. Unfortunately, at that time we did not receive much institutional support. However, later, when visiting Ukraine, we were convinced of the effectiveness of such measures, and now, observing the actions of the Poles, we must return to this issue,” Kasčiūnas said.

He stressed that “the protection of the state border should be looked at comprehensively”. According to him, in order to prevent and destroy heavy military equipment, the border must be protected not only by a physical barrier and video surveillance systems.

The politician noted that in the event of military aggression and invasion, it is very important for the enemy to be mobile and maintain a high pace of hostilities. The purpose of counter-mobility measures and fortifications is to stop the mobility of the occupying forces, “to force them to spend additional time or material resources on their liquidation.”

“Accordingly, this gives additional time to internal and allied forces to react and try to neutralize the enemy. The enemy has to face difficulties even before crossing the state border,” Kasčiūnas explained.

The head of the committee claims that in March the committee will consider the issue of establishing fortifications on the border of Lithuania. Kasčiūnas does not rule out that the parliament could also adopt a special law, which will provide for the principles for establishing counter-mobility measures, legal and financial conditions. In addition, the law will recognize that the establishment of fortifications is a “sphere of protection of extreme national importance”.