Poland opens new waterway, taking control away from russia

[butters]

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s top leaders celebrated the opening Saturday of a new — albeit unfinished — canal that they say will mean ships no longer must secure Russia’s permission to sail from the Baltic Sea to the ports of the Vistula Lagoon.

The event was timed to mark 83 years since the Soviet invasion of Poland during World War II and to demonstrate symbolically the end of Moscow’s say on the economy and development of a region that borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. The government says the waterway gives Poland full sovereignty in the northeastern region, which needs investment and economic development

The canal, built at a cost of almost 2 billion zlotys ($420 million), cuts across the Vistula Spit, east of Gdansk, to allow ships to sail from the Baltic Sea and the Bay of Gdansk to Elblag and smaller ports of the lagoon without obtaining authorization to travel through Russia's Strait of Pilawa. It also shortens the Baltic-to-Elblag route by some 100 kilometers (54 nautical miles).

it will cost a further $21million to deepen the canal sufficiently for cargo shipping.


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