Suwalki gap

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 54 ° 15 '  N , 23 ° 19'  E

Suwalki Gap between Poland and the Baltic States

The Suwalki Gap (also Suwalki Corridor , English Suwalki Gap , Polish Przesmyk Suwalski ) describes in NATO terminology the Polish border area with Lithuania , which connects the Baltic states with the Polish NATO partner and the territory of the Russian exclave Kaliningrad of Belarus separates. It consists of the areas around Suwałki , Augustów and Sejny .

The border section runs between two three-country corners over 65.4 km as the crow flies or 100 km on the ground, from the three-country corner Lithuania-Poland-Belarus in the southeast to the three-country corner Lithuania-Poland-Russia (Kaliningrad) in the northwest. The last 12 kilometers in the southeast follow the strongly meandering course of the Marycha , a left tributary of the Czarna Hańcza .

This region is considered - especially after the Crimean crisis - as one of the militarily potentially most flammable in Europe, as the commander of the US armed forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges , described at the CEPA Forum 2015 conference . US officials point out deficiencies in the infrastructure and organization that prevent NATO countries from reacting quickly if the area is threatened. According to intelligence information, Russia and Belarus could be interested in occupying the area in the event of a possible military conflict with NATO states in order to isolate the Baltic states from NATO partner Poland; they continue to draw comparisons to the Fulda Gap from the Cold War era .

A study by the RAND Corporation , in which Wesley Clark and Egon Ramms contributed as authors, described the area as NATO's most fragile and estimated that the transatlantic alliance would only ensure supplies through the corridor for 36 to 60 hours in the event of a Russian attack until the Baltic capitals are occupied and the Baltic states isolated. NATO therefore stationed four battalions in the area in 2016 (see NATO Enhanced Forward Presence ) and included it in its large-scale exercise Anakonda 16 .

The Russian Federation held the Sapad 2017 maneuver (West 2017) with officially 13,000 soldiers on the NATO eastern border from September 14 to 20, 2017 .

Web links

Commons : Poland-Lithuania border  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Thorsten Jungholt, Julia Smirnova: The “Suwalki gap” is NATO's Achilles heel. In: Die Welt , July 9, 2016.
  • Thomas Gutschker: Where the Baltic States are vulnerable . The Lithuanians are worried about the upcoming autumn maneuver of the Russian military. It could worsen the situation in the region. NATO answers in its own way. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung No. 25 . June 25, 2017, p. 6 ( faz.net - Zapad 2017 ).

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Agnia Grigas: Opinion: Putin's Next Land Grab. The Suwalki Gap. In: Newsweek , February 14, 2016 (English); Thomas Gutschker: Russian Zapad maneuver. Where the Baltic States are really vulnerable. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 25, 2017.
  2. ↑ Thorsten Jungholt, Julia Smirnova: The "Suwalki gap" is NATO's Achilles heel. In: Die Welt , July 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ Konrad Schuller : Baltic republics: The fear of a Russian blitzkrieg. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 8, 2016.
  4. ↑ Jochen Bittner : Eastern Europe: NATO is really that dangerous. In: Die Zeit , June 26, 2016.
  5. ↑ Lorenz Hemicker: Russia wages war three times as often as NATO. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , 23 August 2017.

f1Georeferencing Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap