Poland to build Baltic canal bypassing Russia

Poland announced plans on Thursday to dig a canal through the Vistula Spit to allow maritime traffic direct access to the Baltic Sea without needing to pass through Russian waters.

The project is set to start at the end of 2018 and will cost around 210 million euros ($250 million), the government said.

At the moment, ships travelling to the Baltic from the Polish port of Elblag must traverse a narrow peninsula, heading eastwards into waters in the Russian territory of Kaliningrad before heading north into the sea.

“The canal’s construction is one of the government’s main priorities,” said Polish maritime minister Marek Grobarczyk during a meeting with local officials.

Tensions between the EU and Russia are at their highest in decades and Moscow recently carried out mass military drills in its European exclave of Kaliningrad.