OCR
we XeAe4 December 52. —- page six but also interesting strategic implicatiors. Historically, the Pripet Marshes, which cover about 40,000 square kilometers, have been a natural protection of Russia's Western border. Extending approximatel from Vilna in the North to Kovel in the %outh, from Brest-Litovsk in the West to Gomel in the Kast, this vast region around the Pripet river, is a land of swamps, innumerable little rivers and few resources, except fishing and hunting.- At present, a large project has already been started: the draining of the whole area with Simultannous installation of hydroelectric plants. unce this vast plan terminated, the swamps - that have held back in the past more than one advancing army - will have disappeared, giving way to four million hectares of the most fertile grain land.