NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland will seek European Union funding to build a network of bunkers, barriers, distribution lines, and military warehouses along their borders with Russia and Belarus, Estonian officials said on September 28. The three Baltic countries initially announced the plan for a "Baltic defense line" in January. In May, Poland announced a similar project called the "Eastern Shield" designed to strengthen its borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and with Belarus. "The need for a defense line stems from the security situation and supports NATO's new forward defense concept," Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.
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