How eastern European swampland could halt Putin’s warpath

Similar measures have worked well in Ukraine, as seen above (Picture: Getty)

Vladimir Putin’s aggression towards Europe has only been increasing in recent years – could this solution help prevent an outright attack on bordering nations?

Finland and Poland’s Defence Ministries have called for their countries’ bogs and marshes to be reflooded in a bid to make a new defensive line against a Russian attack.

The thick peat and swampland would make it nearly impossible for Russian tanks to advance into their countries, allowing more time to prepare a counterattack in case of an outright war.

After the Second World War, most of Poland and Finland’s natural marshes were drained and converted into farmland.

The drained bogs exude massive amounts of carbon dioxide, so their restoration is being called for not just for defensive purposes, but also for environmental ones.

The marshy land is a great deterrent (Picture: Shutterstock)

Many NATO countries have now pledged to bring back much of the previously drained bogs and swampland to help restore the environment and stop Putin’s potential warpath.

Kristiina Lang of the Natural Resources Institute of Finland told France24: ‘Drained peatland makes up 10% of Finland’s agricultural land, but it produces more than half of the agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

‘It’s very logical to wet these large areas again. And if we need to rewet part of our peatlands anyway, then why not close to the eastern border?’

Though extreme, the measures have worked before.

Ukraine famously blew up the Kozarovychi Dam as Russian troops approached Kyiv in 2022, flooding 2,800 hectares of land and giving them time to prepare to fight back.

Much of the peat bogland was drained after the Second World War (Picture: Shutterstock)

Both Finland and Poland have been fortifying their borders in recent years, in preparation for any attack from the East.

Anti-tank ‘Hedgehog’ barriers, modern surveillance systems and trenches are all part of Poland’s fortification of its border.

Worth around £2 billion, ‘East Shield’ is the largest programme of its nature on the continent since the end of World War II.

Russian troops have been building up on Finland’s border as well – new satellite images revealed troop barracks and other weaponry.

In Kamenka, around 35 miles from Finnish territory, 130 installations capable of housing 2,000 troops were set up, experts told Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Finland’s membership extended Nato’s border with Russia by more than 800 miles.

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