Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania plan to jointly build defense facilities along their borders with Russia and its ally Belarus. The countries appear to be trying to deter Russia, which is still engaged in a military operation in Ukraine.

On Friday, the defense ministers of the three Baltic countries announced that the joint project will take several years to complete.

Estonian media outlets have reported that shelling-proof concrete bunkers will be set up at 600 locations along the nation's border with Russia.

Estonian defense minister Hanno Pevkur issued a statement. He said, "Russia's war in Ukraine has shown that in addition to equipment, ammunition and manpower, we also need physical defensive structures at the border."

The three countries pledged to continue to provide Ukraine with military assistance when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited them earlier this month.

On Saturday, Russia's lower house speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced that he will submit a bill to the lower house on Monday. He said the bill is aimed at enabling the government to confiscate the assets of people or entities that either spread false information about the activities of Russia's forces or publicly incite activities that are harmful to the nation's security.

Volodin insisted that people and entities who try to destroy Russia, or betray it, must be punished and must compensate the nation for the damage inflicted by forfeiting their assets.

Volodin is known to be one of the senior officials, who is close to President Vladimir Putin.

With the next presidential election scheduled for March, the Putin administration is stepping up its control over information in the country.