Poland has begun building a strategic canal on its Baltic coast to bypass a Russian-controlled strait, despite opposition from environmental activists.
The Vistula Spit, a 34-mile wooded sandbank, bars a stretch of Poland’s eastern coast from the open sea, meaning that ships must pass through the Strait of Baltiysk in the Russian territory of Kaliningrad.
Heavy machinery has already been deployed to pave the way for a 1.3km artificial waterway through the sandbank, along with a breakwater harbour in Gdansk Bay, canal infrastructure and an artificial island on the Vistula Lagoon, although the EU has urged Warsaw to wait for approval.
A canal has been suggested since 1577, but this project was proposed after Russia sealed off its sea border with Poland in 2006, limiting