“I would like to see the arguments presented by the National Armed Forces regarding the military component of railway track removal. Perhaps they have some new reasons why such a solution is being recommended. Because otherwise, there is no point in doing this separately from other counter-mobility measures. Then all the roads must be dug up, anti-tank ditches built, ‘dragon’s teeth’ and other obstacles deployed. Focusing only on railway tracks alone will not achieve anything,” military expert and Saeima deputy Igors Rajevs (non-affiliated) told BNN when asked to comment on the recent heated debate around dismantling railway tracks.
“The railway is an auxiliary tool for troop movement,” Rajevs says, explaining the role of rail in military operations. “Inside Russian territory, their forces can move freely by rail without any problems, which means they can reach our borders, and dismantling our tracks will in no way prevent that. The next stage where rail could come into play is ensuring logistics and moving additional reserve units.
For fighting at the border, Russia already has everything it needs — their railway system works, and we would only be able to influence it during wartime; we cannot do so in peacetime. Our railway would be needed for them only if they occupied part of the border territory and advanced further. Then, to supply their units that had moved forward, they would need our railway. Otherwise, [removing the tracks] makes no sense,” Rajevs told BNN.
While track removal could work as a preventive measure, whether it needs to be done now, during peacetime, depends on what additional arguments the National Armed Forces provide — and secondly, what the economic component is, Rajevs notes. “We must assess how we use these railways in peacetime. Cargo does not come to us only from Russia — it also comes from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries. Therefore, the economic component needs to be evaluated as well.”
When asked by BNN whether tracks could be removed quickly if necessary, Rajevs replied affirmatively: “As Ukraine’s experience shows, the Russians build railways at a fast pace — dismantling them is even quicker than building them.”
As for the political tension surrounding the track removal debate, Rajevs links it possibly to an election campaign cycle.
However, in his view, the main problem is that conclusions are being drawn without access to all relevant information. “That is why I keep saying that we must hear the arguments coming from the armed forces. There may be reasons why they believe this must be done. Perhaps it is intelligence information that cannot be disclosed — then we simply accept this and make a decision. But as long as we do not know all this information, all comments are purely theoretical.”
Asked to comment on NBS Commander Kaspars Pudāns’ statement in a TV3 interview on Tuesday that the railway issue is only part of broader counter-mobility measures, Rajevs said that indeed, railways represent only a very small part of all counter-mobility measures that the armed forces implement during peacetime — and will implement very actively and aggressively during wartime.
In the context of the NBS commander’s remarks, the military expert acknowledged that at present it looks as if the whole discussion “originates” from some report by the Armed Forces or the Ministry of Defence that is not known to the public. “If that is not true, we must clarify who initiated this action. Then we will understand how much of this is election rhetoric and how much is genuine necessity.”
Read also: “Very foolish” — Zatlers assesses politicians’ discussions about removing railway tracks