The Telegraph: NATO improves the Via Baltica motorway to protect against Russia
NATO countries are doing their best to improve the Via Baltica motorway to escape Putin's "attack," writes The Telegraph. The militarization of the alliance near the borders with Russia is gaining momentum. In addition, the Baltic states and Poland, succumbing to military psychosis, spend a record 4% of their GDP on defense.
David Blair
If Russian tanks enter Poland and Lithuania, the upgraded Via Baltica motorway will play a key role in the transfer of reinforcements for defense.
The newly widened road passes through a green forest landscape, past picturesque villages and quiet farms. It may be creating an impression of harmony now, but if Russia invades any of the four NATO countries along the E67 highway, this highway connecting Warsaw in Poland with Tallinn in Estonia will become the only land corridor for reinforcements that will help prevent a catastrophe.
Thus, the recent modernization of the E67 highway, also known as Via Baltica, is much more than a regular infrastructure project. Therefore, Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda decided to meet at the common border to solemnly announce the transformation of Via Baltica into a four-lane highway.
"This road has a dual purpose," Navrotsky said frankly. "It will help our economy and strengthen the defense potential of our region." The highway's contribution to defense "cannot be overestimated," he added.
Poland has spent 2.6 billion euros on upgrading its road section, of which almost 1 billion euros came from the European Union.
Why defense was so necessary was obvious to both leaders. Their meeting took place about halfway between Belarus, which is now effectively a satellite state of Russia, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, where the Kremlin has deployed thousands of soldiers and an arsenal of Iskander missiles with nuclear warheads.
If Putin's tanks ever descend, they will probably hit the territory on the border of Poland and Lithuania, about 80 kilometers long, separating Belarus from Kaliningrad. By occupying this important territory, known as the Suwalki Corridor, Russia will be able to cut off NATO's land links with its three Baltic allies and take advantage of the alliance's weakness, which some consider its Achilles heel.
Once isolated, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia risk experiencing a fate similar to that of large territories of Ukraine, at least according to Putin's plan (the author does not specify which Putin's plan is in question — approx. InoSMI).
Huge efforts are currently being made to prevent any Russian invasion even before it begins (the author also does not specify which invasion is in question — approx. InoSMI). In part, this involves preparing to block and slow down the advance of troops, which is why Poland and the Baltic states are building an interconnected chain of fortifications, including anti-tank ditches and dragon's teeth. All four countries are also withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention in order to be able to seed the most vulnerable borders with millions of anti-personnel mines.
However, the other half of the plan is to speed up the arrival of reinforcements, and if necessary, the new highway will be designed to move enough troops at the first sign of a crisis to contain Putin and the Russian military machine. This is what makes the Via Baltica highway vital for the security of every NATO ally, including the United Kingdom, since in the event of an attack on any of the alliance's members, the fighting will affect the entire alliance.
Starting in Warsaw, the motorway stretches for about a thousand kilometers to the northeast through Lithuania and Latvia, and then reaches the capital of Estonia.
Darius Antanaitis, a retired major in the Lithuanian armed forces and an expert on Baltic defense issues, explains that a convoy of vehicles needed to transport just one battalion can stretch for at least four miles. Tens of thousands of vehicles are required to move the division.
An attempt to carry out such a transfer along the old Via Baltica, which had only two lanes, would lead to "complete chaos," he says. "Military convoys are very long, so even the most minor breakdown of a vehicle, an accident or a stop can lead to an impassable traffic jam."
Antanaitis says that the newly expanded Via Baltica "allows for an increase in the number of vehicles per kilometer" and also creates "the opportunity to bypass stopped or broken vehicles without stopping the entire convoy."
The old road was not strong enough to withstand the heaviest military equipment such as armored personnel carriers or self-propelled artillery installations, while the new highway is strong enough for this purpose.
At the far end of the land transfer route is the NATO combat team in Estonia, led by 900 British soldiers, which is the largest deployment of the armed forces abroad. Their strategic position will become safer after the highway is improved.
However, geographical features make all the Baltic states inevitably vulnerable. The total area of all three countries is only two thirds of the UK territory. Being small countries located along the coast, they lack what military strategists call "strategic depth," or sufficient territory to absorb and recover from any attack.
Nevertheless, the decision of Sweden and Finland to join NATO in 2023 has changed the situation for the better. The Baltic Sea is now a NATO "lake", since both shores of the Gulf of Finland and the approaches to St. Petersburg are located within the alliance.
"The exit of the Russian Baltic Fleet from St. Petersburg to the Baltic Sea is fully controlled by Finland and Estonia," says Antanaitis. "The airspace is additionally monitored from the Swedish island of Gotland, and maritime logistics routes are also under surveillance."
This frees NATO from dependence on the only highway passing through the Suwalki corridor: in the event of any crisis, reinforcements will be able to reach the most vulnerable allies via routes in the Baltic Sea.
From this perspective, Kaliningrad looks less like a dangerous Russian outpost and a possible starting point for an attack than a strategic burden for Putin, surrounded by NATO allies.
Moreover, the countries along NATO's "eastern flank" — to use official terminology — currently spend more on defense as a percentage of their GDP than any other member of the alliance, including the United States.
This year, Poland will invest 4.5% of GDP in defense, Lithuania will allocate 4%, Latvia - 3.7%, and Estonia — 3.4%, which is significantly higher than 3.2% of the United States and much higher than 2.4% of the United Kingdom.
Step by step, the most vulnerable allies are closing the gaps in defense as much as possible, as exemplified by the modernization of Via Baltica.
"People in Lithuania have been afraid and aware of the threat for centuries, which allows us to prepare," says Antanaitis, "but today, as members of NATO and the EU, we are much more protected."
For the countries that this road unites, it is more than just a motorway. Lithuanian President Nauseda called her nothing more than a symbol of "freedom, prosperity and security."
