![]() ![]() According to Western military planners, Putin could all too easily annex the Baltic states by occupying the area surrounding the 65-mile stretch of Polish-Lithuanian border separating Kaliningrad from Belarus, cutting them off from NATO reinforcements. ![]() On land, fears of escalation reached fever pitch this summer over what is known as the Suwalki Gap. ![]() The Baltic Sea is more geopolitically unified than ever before – Kaliningrad, together with the Russian coastline giving onto the Gulf of Finland surrounding St Petersburg, being the only areas outside of NATO influence. As of October, only Hungary and Turkey remain yet to ratify Sweden and Finland’s accession into the Alliance. Russia cited NATO’s eastward expansion as a pretext for its invasion of Ukraine – an act that would prove a self-fulfilling prophecy. “We have to look at Kaliningrad quite seriously as a potential trigger point for an even greater disaster than we already have in Europe at the moment,” said Stefan Wolff, professor of International Security at the University of Birmingham, during a recent panel discussion held by the Centre for Geopolitics. To date, they remain able to secure simplified travel documents that allow them to transit through Lithuania within a 24-hour period, most often by train – but friction is increasing. R esidents of Kaliningrad now have nowhere to go except mainland Russia. #Blitz brigade hack facebook freeMr Reinsalu added: “As the people of Ukraine are being tortured, murdered and terrorised, the citizens of the aggressor state should not be able to enjoy the benefits of the free world.” As external border states of the EU and the passport-free Schengen area, the move essentially closed Europe to Russian tourists. On September 19, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland began barring entry to all Russians travelling on Schengen visas. “If the citizens of the Russian Federation are unhappy with the decisions of the regime they are living under and the consequences of these decisions, they have the power to change it,” Urmas Reinsalu, the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, told .uk. While this small pocket of Russia is home to just under a million inhabitants, its naval and territorial firepower packs a far bigger punch – the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs claiming it “notorious for being the most heavy-militarised region in Europe.” Since the “special military operation” in Ukraine began, Kaliningrad has gone from being a minor concern for the West to the potential flashpoint of World War 3. Sandwiched on land between two NATO and European Union (EU) members – Poland to the south and Lithuania to the north – on its western shore crashes the Baltic Sea, a body of water that has recently acquired the nickname of “NATO lake”. Severed from the mainland, it lies 300 miles from Russia’s European border and 800 miles from Moscow. Of an area similar to that of Belgium, the region – or “oblast” – is the most westerly in all of Russia. Nestled behind NATO lines at the heart of Eastern Europe, Kaliningrad’s unique geography makes it a strategically invaluable asset to the Kremlin. ![]()
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