Baltic countries, Poland and Finland preparing shelters in case of possible attack from Russia

Bloomberg reports that Lauri Laanemets, head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Estonia, announced this in an interview this month.

"Ten years ago, the prevailing narrative was that there would be no more conventional battles, no rockets. Just because there is no war today doesn’t mean we don’t need to prepare for the worst," the minister said.

Since June, special signs — blue triangles on an orange background — have appeared on many houses in Estonia to indicate bomb shelters. One of these objects is a warren of tunnels beneath a 17th-century fortification in Narva, a city perched on the border with Russia. "Hundreds of people" can hide there.

Not only Estonia is equipping bomb shelters, but also other Baltic countries, as well as Poland and Finland. Finland is conducting a full audit of all 54,000 shelters capable of accommodating 4.4 million people. The Interior Ministry of the country said that some bomb shelters needed to be repaired and modernized to ensure an adequate level of protection.

For example, bunkers built before the 1970s of the 20th century have outdated air filters that allow toxic gases to pass through. A similar inspection is carried out by the fire services in Poland. There are 62,000 bomb shelters in the country.