On Saturday, Poland inaugurated a canal to reach its Baltic Sea port of Elblung without passing through Russian territorial waters, AFP reported.

Until now, in order to reach the open sea, boats leaving Elblong had to sail along the peninsula, which belongs partly to Poland and partly to Russia, and ask for permission to pass from the latter, which Warsaw wants to avoid.

“We are talking about opening this way so that we no longer need to ask the consent of a country that is not friendly to us,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda at the channel’s opening ceremony, recalling the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. .

Poland, which is a member of the EU and NATO, strongly supports Kyiv.

The waterway opened by this canal, currently accessible only to small vessels, should eventually allow access to Elbłong, 25 kilometers away, for vessels 100 meters long, 20 meters wide and 4.5 meters in draft, according to the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure.

The dredging and development of various transport infrastructure should be completed by September 2023, and the total cost of the project is estimated at approximately two billion zlotys (€420 million).

The project has sparked controversy, particularly between proponents of a new access road to the Baltic Sea and environmentalists, who have cited risks to fauna and flora that could be affected by changes in the salinity of the delta’s water.