Ten nations across northern Europe have agreed to arrange for possible cross-border evacuations of civilians within the event of a crisis or military conflict within the region, in a bid to draw lessons from the war in Ukraine, Sweden said on Wednesday.
The ten will jointly prepare plans covering transport, border controls, travel corridors and other matters.
Germany and Poland, together with fellow NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark, have ramped up their planning in recent times for a possible future armed conflict with Russia.
“Experience from Ukraine has shown that temporary movements of the population enable the continued defense of the country while protecting civilians,” Sweden’s ministry of defense said in an announcement announcing the northern European agreement.
Get each day National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
Tens of millions of individuals have fled Ukraine within the 4 years since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, most of them searching for refuge in other European nations while the conflict at home continues.
Sweden said that along with transport and travel corridors, the planning for cross-border evacuations will include the reception and registration of individuals and the protection of vulnerable groups.
“The aim of the agreement is to enhance the protection of the civilian population within the event of major crises or, within the worst case, war,” it said.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said that Russia doesn’t wish to invade NATO countries.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania last yr made a similar agreement between themselves, drawing up contingency plans to cope with the potential for lots of of 1000’s of individuals fleeing a Russian troop buildup or attack.
Finland, which shares a 1,340 kilometer-long border with Russia, in 2024 signed the same cope with Sweden.