WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland will start building the first elements of enhanced defence lines on its borders with Russia and Belarus by the end of 2024, a deputy defence minister said on Friday.
Spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Warsaw laid out plans in May to spend 10 billion zlotys ($2.6 billion) to beef up its northern and eastern borders with fortifications, surveillance, reconnaissance and anti-drone systems by the end of 2028 to deter adversaries or help repel a potential attack.
"In the next three weeks, we will be able to carry out the first tests of the East Shield elements on Polish military training grounds, and this year we will start building the first elements ... on the northern and eastern borders," Cezary Tomczyk told a press conference.
He said the project would be developed in cooperation with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as well as with British and American forces.
The war in Ukraine has spurred Poland to boost defence spending to 4.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 and a planned 4.7% in 2025.
Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz was asked at the same event about defence spending beyond 2025, and said the upward trend should be maintained.
He said the recent escalation in fighting in the Middle East was negative for Poland:
"This creates a danger that the eyes of the world, including the United States, will be more focused on that region and not on the region of Ukraine, which is not good for us."
($1 = 3.9106 zlotys)