Estonia considers mining border with Russia

Estonian flag
Estonian flag

Estonia is contemplating planting landmines along its border with Russia, including both anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, deputy chair of Estonian parliamentary Defense Committee, Leo Kunnas, said on Jan. 12, as reported by public broadcaster ERR.

He said that three important conditions must be met for the construction of fortifications along Estonia’s border with Russia.

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“First, we must replace the stocks of engineering materials and mines that we gave to Ukraine,” said Kunnas.

“For instance, we gave [Ukriane] a very large number of anti-tank mines. We need to immediately replace them and then acquire more mines, explosives, and ammunition.”

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The next step, he said, should be the Baltic countries' denunciation of the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of anti-personnel mines.

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Thirdly, Kunnas mentioned that Estonia should start producing its own military explosives, which could be used in anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, mine-clearing charges, and artillery shells.

“Having such manufacturing capabilities would be important for us because the quantity needed is also very large,” the MP explains.

“Once we do all this, we can then talk about starting to seriously build defensive structures.”

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine