Ten countries across northern Europe have agreed to prepare to move civilians across borders in the event of a crisis or military conflict in the region, in an effort to learn lessons from the war in Ukraine, Sweden said on Wednesday.
10 jointly prepare plans covering transport, border controls, travel corridors and other issues.
Germany and Poland, along with fellow NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark, have increased their planning for future armed conflict with Russia in recent years.
“Experience from Ukraine has shown that temporary movements of population enable the continued protection of the country while protecting civilians,” Sweden’s defense ministry said in a statement announcing the northern European agreement.
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Millions of people have fled Ukraine in the four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, many of them seeking refuge in other European countries, but the conflict at home continues.
In addition to transport and travel corridors, Sweden said the cross-border evacuation plan includes the reception and registration of people and the protection of vulnerable groups.
“The purpose of the treaty is to improve the protection of civilian populations in the event of major crises or, in the worst case, war,” it said.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said that Russia does not want to attack NATO countries.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania struck a similar deal between themselves last year, drawing up contingency plans to deal with the possibility of hundreds of thousands fleeing a Russian army build-up or attack.
Finland, which shares a 1,340 kilometer long border with Russia, signed a similar agreement with Sweden in 2024.
(tags to translate)NATO
