In places where once not even border posts disturbed the landscape, earthmoving equipment is currently carving a trench down the boundary between Baltic NATO and Russian territory.
Riga will allocate some 303 million euros over the next five years to the major fortification project. “We plan to dig anti-tank ditches along the border, as you see here now, then strengthen them with 'dragon’s teeth,'" Kaspar Lazdins, the senior engineer officer of Latvia’s armed forces told Latvian media outlet LSM in early May. "But each region will have its own solutions. We plan to use not only state resources, but also attract civilian companies."
When RFE/RL's North.Realities service visited the Russian border at Terehova, Latvia, a long line of trucks was waiting to cross. This the busiest point on Latvia’s eastern border due to the highway running directly east to Moscow, and the checkpoint's proximity to Belarus. Around the Terehova border crossing a fence was erected in 2019 to block illegal migrants attempting to enter from Russia. Major military fortifications will soon be added to the border here as part of what Riga is calling its "eastern border reinforcement plan."
“The border doesn’t bother us, we’ve lived with it our whole lives and don’t pay attention anymore,” says Inna Dukshta, an employee at the administration office of Pasiene, a village near the Terehova crossing.
Flyers placed around the village recruit for new border guards and in the administration itself, a poster proclaims “We are NATO” in Latvian.
“We don’t know if tanks will come, but of course we are afraid of it,” Yulia, a young mother in the village says when asked about the nearby Russian border. “I have a family, children. I’m not thinking about today, but what comes in the next 20 years,” she adds.
Nikolai, an older local man has no such anxiety. “It would be better if this 303 million euros were put into roads instead,” he says. “If, God forbid, there is a war, these fortifications are not going to save us anyway.”
Gennady, another pensioner, holds a similar view. “I don’t know about this ditch,” he told RFE/RL. "In modern wars there is nothing more effective than diplomacy. Embassies shouldn't be closed, diplomatic relations should not be cut. Only diplomacy will keep the peace."
Before the coronavirus pandemic and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, residents of Latvia’s eastern border areas travelled freely into Russia’s Pskov region where they could stock up on significantly cheaper products.
Like many settlements along Latvia’s eastern border, Pasiene is a largely Russian-speaking village. “How can you make people speak [Latvian]” Elena, a cleaning lady in the settlement says. “I’m Latvian, we are all EU citizens, but everyone studied in Russian schools -- we had no others,” she says. “We’ve lived like this all our lives, it’s impossible to change people.
In 1991 Latvia won its independence as the Soviet Union collapsed but some territory was lost to Russia. In the 2000s Riga raised the territorial claims with Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded less than diplomatically. “We will never negotiate on the topic of any territorial claims,” Putin said, adding that Riga would receive “the ears of a dead donkey,” before any land would be handed over.
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Latvia’s parliament banned public celebrations on May 9, the day Russia marks the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. In Pasiene a Soviet-era memorial to soldiers killed during WWII remains standing, but to the south, at the convergence of the Latvian, Belarusian and Russian borders a “friendship monument” was demolished.
“Never mind Russia, I don’t even know about our parliament,” Inna, a resident of Pasiene says. "Now they say there will be elections to the European Parliament but I haven’t seen anyone come and offer to speak to us. We have a forgotten land here,” she says. “We live ordinary lives -- we sow, we plow, we fill out subsidy applications. We are trying to earn money, to grow something, live from our vegetable patch and keep our own livestock.”
Historian Ilya Lensky believes the current fence along Latvia’s border should have been set up thirty years ago, and references the influx of largely Middle Eastern migrants seeking to enter Latvia from Belarus. “People are constantly walking, trying to cross. This leads to the border services being overstretched,” he says. “At the same time, these are attempts to identify some gaps in the border.”
Lensky believes one aim of the migrant crowds apparently shepherded toward the Latvian border by the Belarusian authorities, is to spark violence. “There is the expectation that someone’s nerves will give out and someone will start shooting, then will come the wonderful propaganda that Latvian border guards shot dead a helpless asylum seeker.”
“This would be very useful because the main narrative of Russian and Belarusian propaganda regarding the Baltics is that these people are unrepentant Nazis who won’t hand out bread, but instead kill people,” the historian says.
Igor Raev, the former commander in chief of the Latvian Land Forces says that, while it is hard to imagine Putin ordering an invasion of the Baltics now, the situation in Ukraine serves as a warning. “Russia’s relations with Ukraine deteriorated over time. What was considered impossible in 2008, became very unlikely in 2014, then in 2022, it happened,” he says. "We do not know how the situation will develop in the future, how the conflict in Ukraine will end, and what will follow its conclusion. Therefore, it is better to be prepared and strong enough to withstand any scenario.”
Raev says the fortifications that will soon be in place along the border are only one element of Latvia’s safeguarding measures. “Defensive structures have no impact unless your units are located there, covering these physical barriers that are part of the defensive line.”
NATO’s presence in the Baltic countries was significantly bolstered following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and Raev believes Moscow has been significantly depleted militarily thanks to the Kremlin's disastrous misstep. The military expert believes it could take “at least five years,” for the Kremlin to restore its military strength.
“By the time Russia possible returns to its military potential, I think we will be ready,” he says.
