The Baltic Defence Line (, , ) is a planned joint

defense line A defense line or fortification line is a geographically recognizable line of troops and armament, fortified and set up to protect a high-value location or defend territory. A defense line may be based on natural difficult terrain features, s ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

along their borders with

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. The Baltic Defence Line was announced on 19 January 2024, in a joint-meeting between the Ministers of Defence of

and

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

The Baltic Defence Line began construction in Estonia in June 2025
construction is to begin in Lithuania by the end of summer 2024, and construction began in Latvia on 2 May 2024. According to

Baiba Braže Baiba Braže (born 4 December 1966) is a Latvian politician and diplomat who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (Latvia), Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2024. She previously served as the NATO, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Publi ...

, the Foreign Minister of Latvia, the Baltic Defence Line could take up to a decade to be completed.

Structure

The Baltic Defence Line is planned to consist of anti-mobility defensive installations, such as at least six-hundred

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

s across each individual national border,

and

are yet to disclose the amount of

s they are to build in relation to the ''Baltic Defense Line''. the usage of natural and artificial obstacles, such as forestry and rivers, and anti-tank ditches along the borders of the three

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. It is suspected that

M142 HIMARS The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS ) is a light multiple rocket launcher developed in the late 1990s for the United States Army and mounted on a standard U.S. Army Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) M1140 truck fram ...

artillery rocket systems are also to be used for defensive capabilities. Alongside the defensive installations, the Baltic Defence Line is to also consist of storage areas, where defensive elements such as dragon's teeth, anti-tank hedgehog and razor wire are to be kept.

History

The Baltic Defence Line began to be proposed in response to the

Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

in February 2022, and in fears over Russian threats to the Baltic states. At the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid is where the concept of defensive installations were decided.

References

Notes

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References

21st-century fortifications Reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Military projects of the Baltic states

Structure

History

See also

References

Notes

References