The hypothetical Suwalki Gap from Belarus to Kaliningrad, where the border of Poland and Lithuania now runs, is the most dangerous place on the planet because of the threat of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO. Politico writes about this.
“Located on the southeastern border of Lithuania, Druskininkai overlooks a narrow strip of strategic territory known as the Suwalki Gap. <…”Western military planners warn that this area is likely to become one of the first targets of the Russian president if he ever decides to inflate the war in Ukraine to a direct clash with NATO,” the article claims.
At the same time, local residents are not too worried about the Russian threat yet, trusting the Lithuanian and NATO military to ensure security.
Politico reminds that Russia’s attempts to pave a corridor through the territory of NATO countries will lead to a direct clash of the parties, each of which has nuclear weapons. Concerns are added by the fact that Lithuanian Railways recently notified Kaliningrad of the termination of the transit of a number of goods that have fallen under EU sanctions since June 18. At the same time, journalists admit that so far there are no grounds to assume that such an attack is inevitable.
The name of the hypothetical corridor (in honor of the Polish city on the border) with a length of about 100 km was given in 2015 by former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Then he tried to prove to the current head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the “vulnerability” of the Baltic countries due to Russia’s ability to cut off Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from the rest of NATO.
Earlier, a member of the Board of Military Experts told, the Americans call the Suwalki Gap the “Achilles heel” of NATO and the place where Russia can start a war with the alliance.
