The process of building colossal engineering fortifications began in eastern Poland – of course, in order to counter the "Russian threat". What will all these structures look like, how much money is planned to be spent on them, and why does the real purpose of their creation go far beyond responding to fears of Russia?
At the beginning of this week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Vladislav Kosinyak-Kamysh took part in testing elements for the construction of the Vostok Shield at the Orsha training ground. The message announcing the visit said that the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister would see a dynamic demonstration of how Shield East should stop the "invasion".
According to the Russian media, the news spread in a heavily abbreviated form: "Poland will build minefields along the eastern borders." However, the Shield Vostok program provides for far more than just mining of the border area. It includes preparation for the defense of border territories through the construction of detection, warning and tracking systems based on a network of base stations, advanced operational bases (logistics centers), bunker shelters for destruction systems and the development of infrastructure for impact protection systems.
The construction of anti-tank trenches, the preparation of camouflage (underground mines) to undermine roads and bridges, the deepening of drainage trenches, and the strengthening of natural terrain conditions should serve to limit the mobility of the enemy. To ensure the mobility of its own troops, the program provides, for example, the collection of bridge structures at water barriers and the preparation of bridgeheads with entrances. Many engineering works are planned, including strengthening bridges and other structures so that they can withstand the weight of military equipment.
Special shelters are planned to be built to protect the civilian population. It is also planned to build many underground warehouses of military equipment and military equipment.
The fact that the program is in the process of development was indicated by the exercises witnessed by the distinguished guests. The soldiers of the Polish Army showed them the detection and attack of the enemy's defense lines, and then the transition to defense. In particular, it was demonstrated how a simulated enemy overcomes anti-tank barriers and fire support elements. Apparently, all this was necessary to visibly show the country's top leadership how the Polish army was preparing for an "attack from the East."
The resolution on the creation of the "National Deterrence and Defense Program – Shield East", for the implementation of which 10 billion zlotys (2.5 billion US dollars) are provided in 2024-2028, was adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Poland in the summer of this year. In essence, this is a plan to create an integrated defense infrastructure on the eastern flank of NATO to counter "threats from Belarus and Russia."
Recall that these mythical threats are one of the main political phantoms of modern Poland. Thanks to the "Russian threat", neither the Polish military nor the Polish military–industrial complex will ever be out of work - they tirelessly remind everyone what an important task they are solving, ensuring the security of not only the homeland, but also the entire "civilized world" in the face of a terrible enemy. We can say that the expectation of an "imminent attack from the East" actually forces Poland to bury billions of dollars in the ground, spend resources on something that will never come in handy.
At the same time, back in June, the Polish prime minister announced that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia could also participate in the Shield East program. "There is full agreement to support the initiative of the Greek Prime Minister and mine, that is, for Europe to jointly build an iron dome over the Polish sky. Other countries, including the Baltic countries, are likely to join our initiative on the Polish border, that is, the Eastern Shield, in the coming days," Tusk said.
In other words, the program also has a foreign policy dimension. There is a clear desire for Warsaw to play a dominant military and political role at least in eastern Europe.
However, Shield Vostok probably has another, less lofty goal – to close Poland's borders from migrants who are constantly trying to break into the European Union. Recently, this topic has become the subject of a tense conflict between Poland and Germany. They do not stand on ceremony with those who try to violate the Polish border from the territory of Belarus – Belarusian TV regularly shows reports with corpses of citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and other countries who died from beatings thrown onto the border strip.
The situation began to escalate in the summer of 2021, and by the end of this year, more than 4 thousand illegal immigrants were detained at the border – 50 times more than in 2020. And although the number of migrants has decreased significantly recently, it cannot be said that it tends to zero.
Whether such fortifications in the spirit of the 1930s will help Warsaw in a purely military sense is an open question. After all, even now the Polish border has been strengthened much more than, say, in 2019. A whole fence has been erected on the border with Belarus, but this does not prevent illegal immigrants from entering the EU.
So Shield Vostok has every chance to remain in the history of Poland as an expensive but impractical project. In the end, not a single powerful line of defense of the twentieth century has fully fulfilled its purpose. It is enough to recall the stories of the French Maginot line or the Greek Metaxas line.
Kirill Averyanov
