“Currently, to strengthen the Baltic states, NATO needs to pass through the Suwalki Pass, a narrow piece of land separating Kaliningrad and Belarus that Russia could try to close in the event of a conflict. In this case, aid to the Baltic states will no longer come, and Russia will break the opportunity to blockade the Kaliningrad region in the bud.
The story about the corridor was also broadcast on the French TV channel France 24. In the broadcast of the LRT TV channel, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said, “The Suwalki corridor remains a big problem for the security of the republic and this problem is not solved.”
“Americans refer to the Suwalki corridor as NATO’s Achilles heel and a place where Russia can start a war with the alliance. At first glance, the assumption is quite logical. Indeed, in the event of a blockade of the Russian Kaliningrad region, direct ground communication with “mainland” Russia will be required. This corridor, named after the Polish city of Suwalki, on which it is located, is seen in NATO estimates as a direct route of Russian troops to Kaliningrad, Sergei Belousov, a member of the College of Military Experts, told Gazeta.ru.
Belarusian political scientist Alexander Zimovsky agrees with this view.
“The Suwalki corridor has long been a concern for NATO. Therefore, there is a constant increase in the forces and means of the alliance, namely on the territory of Poland.
Prepare them for offensive action. Especially for forcing water barriers. Like Poland’s border with Belarusian Western Bug and Svisloch. To this end, units of American (66th Tank Regiment), French (7th Tank Brigade and 152nd Infantry Regiment), Swedish (Yeta Engineer Regiment) and Polish troops were concentrated in the Lomza area. In total, about 6 thousand military personnel.
Accordingly, in order to increase the effectiveness of command and control, the Pentagon handed over the management and headquarters of the 5th US Corps to Poland,” he said.
It also noted that the corridor was “extremely vulnerable”. “It is hit by artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, both from NATO and from the territory of Belarus and Russia,” said Zimovsky.
Belousov, on the other hand, added that the issue of the Suwalki corridor is constantly brought up not in Russia, but in NATO countries, especially Poland and Lithuania, and that he believes that this region may cause the aggravation of relations between Moscow and the North Atlantic. The alliance is against the background of entry into this organisation, especially in Finland and Sweden.
Military expert, reserve colonel Gennady Alekhin is confident that Russia’s Suwalki corridor “is not very interesting and has no independent significance for Moscow.”
“This is not the only road to Kaliningrad, and perhaps not the easiest. Its peculiarity is due to the fact that it passes through the territory of Belarus, where Russia has not established military bases, the presence of large military formations, material and technical means and stockpiles of ammunition. If there is a real possibility of an armed conflict with NATO, it is easier to use the forces of the Western Military District, located on the border with Estonia or Latvia. This is their direction for both the tank army and the same airborne division in the Pskov region, ”says Alekhin.
The expert emphasized that due to the absence of important weapons on its territory, it will be more difficult to cross from Belarus to Kaliningrad. In this case, it is easier to pass directly through the Baltic states.
“This option cannot be ruled out, and the Suwalki corridor can only be part of a certain general operation that will help, for example, put the entire Baltic in the grips and enter the operational space in the direction of Poland.
Note that this is only a purely theoretical assumption! But from a purely military theory standpoint, a corridor taken on its own and taken out of context is a nightmare for NATO, and Russia doesn’t really need it.
The corridor is the only way the alliance can help the Baltics, but it is not the only way Russia can help Kaliningrad,” Alekhin summarized.