Polish and Finnish authorities are weighing a peculiar defensive measure along their borders with Russia: reviving swamps. The idea, floated in local media, is to turn marshlands into natural barriers that could hinder Russian troops and armored vehicles. Officials in Warsaw and Helsinki frame the initiative as a response to what they describe as a «threat from the east».

But Russian military analyst Anatolii Matviichuk, a retired special forces colonel, considers such efforts futile. He argued that today’s Russian army has the technology and equipment to cross even the most difficult terrain, swamps included.

Matviichuk recalled that during the Second World War, Soviet tank units advanced through the marshes of Belarus-something the German command had not anticipated. He insisted that if modern Russian forces were ever required to operate in swampy regions, they could rely on specialized engineering units and high-mobility vehicles designed to handle waterlogged ground. In his words, the Polish and Finnish plans amounted to little more than «nonsense», which he suggested might even conceal financial motives.

Beyond the military feasibility, Matviichuk pointed to a broader political context. He said that presenting such projects as «defense against Russia» fits within a European Union strategy of cultivating a sense of permanent threat. According to him, this narrative justifies the rapid expansion of military budgets across the bloc and fuels what he described as political hysteria aimed at vilifying Moscow.