Story highlights Poland's militias are expanding amid rising tensions with Russia

35,000 people have signed up and are currently in training

Warsaw, Poland (CNN) Poland scrapped compulsory military service in 2008. Less than a decade later, some now question the wisdom of that move.

Russia is throwing its weight around eastern Europe, stocking up its isolated Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad with far more armaments than its neighbor feels comfortable with.

"The situation is starting to resemble the situation during the Cold War," says Polish Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Defense, Tomasz Szatkowski. "There are a number of fronts, a number of situations that could turn into proxy wars."

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Kaliningrad has a 200 kilometer border with Poland -- and as the world saw in Crimea, when Russia wants to protect its vital assets, it doesn't mind crossing borders to do so.

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