Six Nato nations have agreed to build a “drone wall” along their borders to defend themselves against Russian threats.
Norway, Poland and Finland will work with the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – to prevent Russian aggression, including forcing migrants across the border.
“This is a completely new thing. A drone border from Norway to Poland,” Agne Bilotaite, Lithuania’s interior minister, told broadcaster Baltic News Service.
“This will allow us to protect ourselves from provocations by unfriendly countries.”
EU countries bordering Europe have become increasingly nervous that an emboldened Vladimir Putin will turn his sights on Russia’s Western neighbours if he succeeds in his war in Ukraine.
In anticipation, Poland has spent billions upgrading its border defences with Belarus, Estonia has built a network of frontier army bunkers and Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia, has joined Nato.
Asian migrants on bicycles
Last year, Finland was forced to close its border crossings with Russia after the Kremlin flew in migrants from Asia and sent them over the border on bicycles. Finnish officials said Moscow was weaponising migration to destabilise Europe.
Ms Bilotaite said that details of the “drone wall” were still being worked out and that the deal, signed over the weekend, was part of a wider approach to countering the threat from Russia.
“We agreed to hold regional drills to ensure the evacuation of the population, to see how our institutions are prepared to work and to interact with each other,” she said.
Russia has strengthened its military units along its northwest border with the EU since it invaded Ukraine and moved nuclear missiles to Belarus.
On Thursday, Estonia reported that Russian border guards had removed buoys marking navigable channels in Estonian waters in the Narva River, a border with Russia.
A day earlier, Russia had published a draft proposal unilaterally expanding its maritime borders with Finland and Lithuania.