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Latvia Will Flood Drained Bogs On The Border With Belarus

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Latvia Will Flood Drained Bogs On The Border With Belarus

For safety's sake.

Latvia's Ministry of Defense reported that it supports "restoring historic peat mining sites" and turning them back into "bog ecosystems" - to serve as natural barriers on the eastern border with Russia and Belarus. Such bogs could seriously impede the advance of armored vehicles and infantry and force them to move along highways, where they would present an easy target.

In the Soviet years, the eastern regions of Latvia were actively mining combustible peat: it was used both to run power plants and to heat homes. After Latvia's accession to the EU, peat extraction was practically stopped as part of the European policy to reduce harmful emissions and transition to "clean" energy. Today, peat is extracted in Latvia in much smaller quantities than before and is sold mainly as a fertilizer for gardeners.

Many bogs where peat was extracted have dried up in recent decades. However, the Latvian military supports the idea of flooding them again - in preparation for a possible military conflict with Russia, which they assess as highly probable.

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