---
title: "Northern Europe prepares cross-border evacuation plans for a crisis or war"
id: "86021"
type: "post"
slug: "northern-europe-prepares-cross-border-evacuation-plans-for-a-crisis-or-war"
published_at: "2026-03-21T09:35:22+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-21T09:35:23+00:00"
url: "https://estonianworld.com/security/northern-europe-prepares-cross-border-evacuation-plans-for-a-crisis-or-war/"
markdown_url: "https://estonianworld.com/security/northern-europe-prepares-cross-border-evacuation-plans-for-a-crisis-or-war.md"
excerpt: "Ten northern European countries, including Estonia, have signed a memorandum of understanding on protecting civilians in the Baltic Sea region and the Nordic countries, enabling […]"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Security"
publisher: "Estonian World"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Sten Hankewitz"
author_url: "https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/"
---

# Northern Europe prepares cross-border evacuation plans for a crisis or war

![Estonia and nine other northern European countries have signed a memorandum to coordinate the temporary cross-border movement of civilians in the event of a crisis or war. Photo: Getty / Unsplash.](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/getty-images-KNkJuH9Uqa0-unsplash-2-1024x576.jpg)

Estonia and nine other northern European countries have signed a memorandum to coordinate the temporary cross-border movement of civilians in the event of a crisis or war. Photo: Getty / Unsplash.

By  [Sten Hankewitz](https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/)
  ·  March 21, 2026  · [Security](https://estonianworld.com/category/security/)
 · 2 minutes of reading

### Ten northern European countries, including Estonia, have signed a memorandum of understanding on protecting civilians in the Baltic Sea region and the Nordic countries, enabling the temporary cross-border movement of people in the event of a crisis or war.

The signatories to the memorandum are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Norway and Poland.

In the event of a crisis or war, it may become necessary to evacuate people temporarily from one location to another. Experience from Ukraine has shown that such temporary population movements can help sustain a country’s defence while protecting civilians, the Swedish government said in a statement.

“We are NATO members and neighbours who depend on one another for our security,” Sweden’s minister for civil defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, said in a statement, adding that the memorandum “expresses our desire to further deepen cooperation in our region and to strengthen our joint preparedness”.

The signatory countries will jointly plan how an evacuation across land borders could be carried out. This includes reviewing transport, border controls, evacuation corridors, the reception and registration of evacuees, and the protection of particularly vulnerable groups.

In 2025, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania agreed to draw up contingency plans in case they needed to move hundreds of thousands of people across their borders in the event of a Russian attack. The previous year, Finland signed a similar agreement with Sweden.

## About The Author

![Avatar photo](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/local-avatars/15/1707599474-bpfull-100x100.jpg)

[Sten Hankewitz](https://estonianworld.com/author/stenhankewitz/)
Sten Hankewitz is a lifelong journalist and the Executive Editor at Estonian World. Having lived in Estonia, Spain, the UK and all around the US, he now resides in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He loves to write and besides working at Estonian World, he [writes books](https://estonianworld.com/culture/the-grand-illusion-estonian-worlds-sten-hankewitz-publishes-a-novel-about-growing-up-in-the-soviet-union/)
 and contributes to other outlets. He has strong convictions and shows them unashamedly. You can follow Sten on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@stenhankewitz)
, [X](https://twitter.com/stenhankewitz)
 and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/shankewitz/)
. You can also [email him](mailto:sten@estonianworld.com)
.