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The presidents of NATO members Poland and Lithuania on Thursday expressed confidence in the ability of allied troops to create a major strategic corridor, connecting their countries, between Russia’s best friend Belarus and a Russian enclave in the Baltic Sea.
Concern about NATO’s ability to protect the so-called Suwalki Gap, a 70-kilometer (43-mile) corner connecting Poland and Lithuania, has erupted since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. the fleet and nuclear-capable missiles are based.
Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda visited the populated region on Thursday and met with NATO troops on the Polish and Lithuanian sides.
“This is a very delicate domain and the eyes of an aggressor can potentially be directed here,” Nauseda told Szypliszki, on the Polish side.
The hall connects Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, all former Soviet republics bordering Russia, Poland and NATO members.
“We have to come to this place. . . to show that it is a secure Array. . . just from what you can see here today: the daily, quiet but vigilant service of Polish, Lithuanian and NATO troops,” said Poland’s Duda.
At the behest of Poland and the Baltic states, NATO leaders at a summit last week in Madrid to particularly increase the number of allied troops in Eastern Europe. At Suwalki Gap, battalions with many infantrymen will be reinforced in brigades with thousands of infantrymen.
The presidents were accompanied on their scale through their defense ministers. The mobile command unit of the US-led Multinational Northwest Division is recently conducting box training in the Szypliszki area.
From there, the two presidents traveled to Mariampoli, Lithuania, to meet with a German-led logistics battalion.
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Follow AP of the Russo-Ukrainian War in https://apnews. com/hub/russia-ukraine
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