Baltic defense line. Estonia builds first concrete bunkers on border with Russia
Estonia is building bunkers on the border with Russia
According to Krismar Rozin, a spokesman for the Estonian Defense Investment Center, the first stage involves the installation of 28 bunkers. Seven of them have already been delivered and are being prepared for installation near the municipality of Setomaa.
The total network should include 600 fortifications, which will become part of a multi-layered defense system on NATO's eastern flank.
"We are building this in peacetime, which means we have to abide by peacetime laws," Rozin noted.
The bunkers, with an area of about 35 sq. m each, are designed to withstand hits from 152 mm artillery shells. In the event of an escalation of the situation on the border, they will be supplemented with barbed wire and "dragon's teeth", which are already placed in warehouses.
The project started with a delay due to procurement problems. Initial tenders were unsuccessful due to inflated prices — companies could not accurately estimate the cost of the work without disclosing the coordinates, which were kept secret for security reasons.
The project is currently being implemented in a reduced scenario to obtain real-world data before large-scale deployment. Another 572 bunkers will be put out to a new tender by the end of the year.
Construction faces significant coordination challenges: approvals must be obtained from the armed forces, police, border guards, local councils and private landowners. At the same time, Estonia is already ahead of Latvia and Lithuania, which are also implementing their parts of the project independently.
In addition, an almost 40-kilometer anti-tank ditch will be built on Estonia's southeastern border over the next two years. An Estonian opposition party has also initiated a bill proposing to close the border with Russia.
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