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Poland has opened a channel to the Baltic to avoid Russian territorial waters

Poland today opened a new navigation channel that will allow ships to no longer need Russian permission to sail from the Baltic Sea to ports located in the Vistula Lagoon.

“The opening of the canal is a great victory for Poland, for the patriots, for” all those who understand the meaning of the word sovereignty and the meaning of sovereigntyPolish President Andrzej Duda said at the opening ceremony, PAP reported.

Responding to criticism that large ships would not be able to pass through the canal, Duda said it wasn’t the most important thing.

It was about this period of symbolic opening “so as to no longer have to ask for the consent of a country that is not a friend, whose authorities do not hesitate to attack and take away the freedom of others”, said the Polish president, referring to Russia .

The date of the opening of the canal was not chosen by chance: today is the 83rd anniversary of the invasion of the USSR in Poland during the Second World War. This was done by virtue of a secret agreement with Nazi Germany, which had already entered Poland on 1 September of the same year – 1939.

The aim is to show that Moscow’s influence on the economy and development of the region, which borders the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, has come to an end.

The Polish government says the waterway gives Poland full sovereignty over its northeastern region, which needs investment and economic development, the Associated Press reported.

The canal is one kilometer long and costs around 2 billion zlotys (420 million dollars). It crosses the Vistula tongue east of Gdansk. It is designed to allow ships to reach Elbląg and smaller ports of the Vistula lagoon from the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Gdansk without obtaining permission to cross the Piława Strait into Russia. This shortens the route from the Baltic Sea to Elblong by approximately 100 km (54 nautical miles).

Small ships and yachts are expected to enter on Sunday.

However, merchant ships will not be able to use the new facility until the approach to the port of Elblong is deepened to 5 meters. It is expected to cost 100 million zlotys (21 million dollars) and has been a source of controversy between the government and city officials.

Meanwhile, Polish ecologists warn of the negative impact on the environment of the new canal. Others are wondering if this expensive project was even necessary, DPA reported.

According to Krzysztof Czybor of Greenpeace Poland, nitrogen and phosphate compounds used in agriculture have deposited on the bottom of the lagoon.

“By the time the canal is dug, these substances will mix. This can cause algal blooms and we have seen the tragic consequences of dead fish in the Oder River.”He said.

University of Gdansk transport expert Włodzimez Rydzkowski sees no sense in the investment. According to him, ships with a length of up to 100 m, a width of 20 m and a draft of not more than 4.5 m, that is, with a carrying capacity of up to 3500 tons, will be able to cross the channel.

“There are no such small ships sailing in the Baltic Sea. They are sailing on the Rhine”, says the expert. He adds that the ship is the brainchild of the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

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