Lithuania Is Fortifying Its Border With Belarus

• 12.08.2026, 17:07

The country plans to restore the wetlands.

The Lithuanian government has approved proposals from the Ministry of Defense regarding “anti-mobility” measures—specifically, the construction of trenches tens of meters wide and the restoration of wetlands.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense’s project updates existing measures and introduces new ones designed to make it more difficult for a potential adversary to breach the country’s borders.

Among the new measures are “the restoration of wetlands and the construction of special engineering structures along the border,” said Deputy Minister of National Defense Tomas Mikelkevicius.

Counter-mobility measures will be deployed along 20-meter-wide sections (up to 150 meters in some places) along the border with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast. These include anti-tank trenches and hedgehogs, “dragon’s teeth,” and other obstacles—the number of storage sites for such equipment has been increased from 27 to 50. All of this, including the preparation of bridges for mining, must be operational by December 31, 2028.

“The list of military counter-mobility measures includes the restoration of wetlands. This measure is scheduled to be implemented by the end of 2030,” the government statement reads.

There are approximately 59,000 hectares of wetlands along the Lithuanian-Belarusian border, about half of which have been drained.

According to estimates by the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense, the aforementioned changes may require an additional 50 million euros from the funds allocated in the 2026–2030 budget.