French military analyst Clement Molin found that satellite images show fortifications along Poland's border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave remain incomplete, with only a few kilometers finished and key access roads left unprepared, DGP reported. His findings drew attention to the fact that elements of the defensive infrastructure can be seen on Google Maps.
Former Polish Foreign Intelligence Agency analyst Robert Cheda told the paper that failing to obscure the sites was a security lapse that plays into the hands of Russian intelligence. Retired General Boguslaw Pacek, former head of Poland's National Defense University, disagreed, arguing that camouflage was unnecessary since visible fortifications serve a deterrent function.
The debate comes as construction work has picked up pace. Colonel Marek Pietrzak, spokesman for the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, said the military is stockpiling around 1,000 concrete anti-tank obstacles a day at 16 storage sites, with 300,000 units due to arrive by mid-October, after which seven more storage facilities will be built.
The obstacles already gathered are enough to secure 100 km of border, a figure set to double to 200 km by year-end. Pietrzak said storing the barriers rather than deploying them in peacetime "allows the economy and residents to function normally," while keeping open the option of rapidly erecting the defenses when needed.
Poland's East Shield program is a large-scale project to reinforce the country's eastern border with fortifications, surveillance systems and other defensive infrastructure.
(jh)
Source: PAP