This 60-Mile Strip of Land Is NATO’s ‘Weak Spot’ Against Russia | WSJ
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2024
- As Wagner troops relocate to Belarus, NATO allies have expressed concerns about a small strip of land known as the Suwalki Gap on the Poland-Lithuanian border. Belarus has served as a base for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and gaining access to this land in Eastern Europe would link Kaliningrad with Moscow’s ally. But NATO’s additions of Finland and Sweden means that Kaliningrad is effectively encircled by NATO.
WSJ explains why this corridor has been described as a ‘weak spot’ and how it could be vulnerable to Russia.
0:00 Suwalki Gap location
0:43 What Russia has to gain
2:54 Complications
4:13 What’s next?
News Explainers
Some days the high-speed news cycle can bring more questions than answers. WSJ’s news explainers break down the day's biggest stories into bite-size pieces to help you make sense of the news.
#Russia #NATO #WSJ
The Suwalki region is not NATO's 'Weak Spot', but Kaliningrad is Russia's 'Weak Spot', especially considering the recent modernization and enlargement of the Polish armed forces.
Poland is empty since most polish have migrated to the EU. Russia has to support Irish freedom fighters and NATO will collapse once the English regime kills Irish again 😂
prove , attack ,
@@dim2389So? There are a bunch in Germany too, next door.
Fact check: Russia is the chihuahua, as they have made 13 nuclear threats since February 24, 2022, not mentioning the multiple others they have made since 1991.
Do you get off to lying?
@@loumcast Lithuania and Poland would wish a Ruski would. Both are rabid anti-Russian and just chomping for an excuse to pay back Cold War abuses. The Poles especially have spent billions recently to get ahold of the equipment necessary to modernize and strengthen their military. They'd make Russia tripping into their territory look 10x more embarrassing than the armor convoy that got obliterated on its way to Kyiv.
Poland: "Do it. I want you to try it."
@@Karl_DE poland couldnt even shoot down a stray missile that penetrated its borders by accident💀
As far as i understood this not a "gap" or some neutral land,but just the Poland-Lithuania border. So if they attack they would basically attack these two countries,that are NATO members.
But explain that to media to propagandists..it's why Russians play chess
border is a neutral land, so it wouldn't be attack on any of them
There is no neutral land between the last fence on one country's land and its geographical border.
And then moments later they would be absolutely wiped out and their would be no more land bridge. And this would happen in a matter of minutes not hours.
It is a gap between Kaliningrad and Russia controlled Belarus.
The only problem with the hypothetical presented is it seems to think that Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia would be complicit in the annexation of their territory when in reality, the Russian forces would have a hard time holding the Suwalki gap as they would be attacked from both east and west constantly.
As Germany learned after WWII, it is not a good idea to start a conflict on two fronts, and hence why even Putin isn't crazy enough to try this plan.
You miss the entire point David.
This is part of Poland, Poland is part of NATO, an attack on the gap will trigger Article 5 (if the Poles feel the need to invoke it) At which point the Turks let the European navies into the Black sea and (a few subs would probably be sufficient) and every russian soldier in Ukraine will have his own personal glide-bomb on its way. If that isn't enough, then NATO will just have to take out every bit of russian air defence in the border areas and carpet bomb the russia border region. An attack on Moscow would be too useful to putin so I'm sure NATO will stick to military targets in border areas (and economic targets like every oil refinery and gas plant in russia. It'll be back to bread queues and Borscht in weeks for russians - just like in the good old soviet days. Putin WILL be pleased.
@@occamraiserCalifornia dreaming!!! By the time Nato woke soldiers finish putting up their make up l the European capitals will be turned to ash and the gringos will not dare to attack Russia because China and and North Korea will be aiming to Washington got that American way of doing to their minions remember no friends only interests there are plenty of examples of supposed American friends left in the bind
Just another fear-monegering by the msm (held captive by the Elite of the American oligarchy), to fuel more Russophobia, and to reinforce the Western narrative about Russian expansionism (when clearly it was NATO that had unbridled appetite for expansion, abandoning the multiple assurances given to the late Soviet leader Gorbachev made by the US, UK, and France to never expand Eastwards towards Warsaw Pact countries).
Anglosaski i NATO ostrzy żeby na Przesmyk Suwalski łączcie fakty!!! Anglojęzyczne media jak i Polskie straszą nas przed najnebezpieczniejszym miejscu w Polsce perzesmyk Suwalski dlaczego??!! Martwią się że będzie konkurencja z strony Rosji więc strasząc nas chce USA I NATO mieć stała bazę!!! A ja mówię zbrojmy się raz dwa trzy powinniśmy zdoby broń nuklearna i zadeklarować spłatę za 2-3 przeciwko naroda zawsze zagrażającym naszej egzystencji z każdej sytony jak i mocarstwa z zachodu!!!
Zanim zaczniemy wiercić musimy mieć tarcze Anty rakietowe i pociski balistyczne dalekiego zasięgu.
Jesteśmy bardzo bogaci i nic o tym nie wiecie bo macie Anty Polski rząd!!! Zawsze wiedziałem i byłem zły na mantre ludzi tepaki mówiące że coś się nie opłaca wydobywać qurde naprawdę jesteś expertem od gadania dlaczego nie bo czytasz FAKT czy słuchasz TV I rado!!!
Co jest z tym krajem ztworzyla się okazja wasze dzieci powinny komunikować wiadomości grafiti na ścianach!!! Również chuligani na stadionach silnego kraju zjednoczonego nikt nie ruszy mamy obowiązek być potęga Europy mamy historie ,doświadczenie i ob
ycie w świecie!
Yeah, see if Poland and Lithuania don't react immediately if Russia crosses their border.
Im starting to think that media want to BAIT Russia into this trap hahaha :D
Just like America & its stooges baited Russia into this war 🤔😂
Russia takes the Suwalki gap, NATO takes Kaliningrad. Gap is now redundant. Simple.
As Polish, this is vastly exaggerated. Doing any ambush with intelligence, radars, and SAR satellites would be tough. Moving forces to Kaliningrad by the Baltic Sea would make it even harder to go unnoticed. Attacking NATO would trigger Article 5 and looks at how well war for Russia goes with a much weaker military in Ukraine. The whole of Kaliningrad is in range of HIMARS. The Suwalki gap is quite swampy, which favours defenders.
Excellent wargame scenario for military drill, but sleep calmly.
Russia has nukes
@@josephmontezuma5089 So does the US. And France. And the UK. All NATO members. Russia doesn't use its nukes because of MAD. There is no way for them to use nukes without Moscow and St. Petersburg becoming completely devoid of life. Bringing up nukes is basically a non-argument because it's the military equivalent of flipping the table.
@@josephmontezuma5089 Russia is not the only one with nukes. France, UK, Germany and US too.🙂
and? so does NATO @@josephmontezuma5089
@@josephmontezuma5089 so does NATO. For some reason ruzkiez seem to forget this fact.
Russia can't even take and bold BAKHMUT but somehow, it can capture this 80KM land between Poland Luthuania? LAUGHABLE
@@saccount-z3 Because they got food & weapons from USA..!
And they would of NEVER DONE IT WITHOUT USA ..!
@@saccount-z3 Russia isn't the Soviet Union and WW2 they didn't fight alone unlike in the Winter war
Russia today has NO CHANCE in conventional war against NATO.
@@juri_xiii9977 So American food won the WW2?
The problem is, Russians also make the same assumptions based on the Fiasco that took place just a year earlier in Afghanistan.
One might even suggest that it was the debacle in Afghanistan that made Russians access Nato as suprisingly weak and humble.
Two nuclear armed powers have inferiority complex against their rivals, it's a whole lot of bad omen.
NATO lost in Vietnam, Iraq and in Afghanistan.
The reason why it is a prime target is because it is actually Russia's weak spot.
💯
@@TheRezro
Is it like Russia's G spot? 🤔
Yeah, I think we've all seen that apart from nukes, Russia is a toothless tiger. I wonder if they pushed the button, how many would actually fly and how many would blow up in their silos and how many would land in Siberia on their way.
False
Yeah you are right Russia has so many weak spots, this one probably doesn't even count.
It's not a "strip " of land . And it's not on the border . It's an area mainly within Poland's borders . You make it sound like it's a separate entity of some kind . It also not NATO's weak spot , anymore than anywhere else . It's just that Russia would like to invade and take control of that area to join up with Kaliningrad and that's not going to happen . NATO's real weak spot is it's inability to take on the enemy themselves .
The idea that Russia wants to invade other countries is false, unless it is threatened by NATO:, meaning the US. Russia can be patient because the US economy is going down the tube, and they are not going to be able to carry out more foreign wars. US cities are falling apart as well as bridges and highways. They will be forced to take care of their own country. The petrol dollar is almost finished. .
the vulnerability of the Suwalki Gap is caused by NATO having to reinforce The Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, through this 70km corridor. If russia either takes it , or makes it prohibitively costly for nato to move manpower/assets, through, it is a huge problem for NATO to defend its three members in the Batlic states. However, with Sweden and Finalnd joining NATO, the suwalki gap is no longer nearly as strategically important, as Finland opens up a huge front against russia should they invade the Baltics, and the baltics can now be reinforced more easily by sea and air from Sweden and Finland.
That region is not a *weakspot* It’s a charged power keg.
Yet Russia also resents that gap. It denies Russia’s access to Kaliningrad.
Also, the Suwalki gap issue has been alleviated because of... FINLAND. And Sweden will no doubt join sometime soon.
@@probium2832 *NATO works like MAFIA - they make you "problem", they offer you "solution" than they make YOU PAY for it - it's pathetic*
( just idea that Russia will attack any of those countries is ridiculous - but if you insist they will just nuke you - it's much easier : )
@@probium2832we will see
Putin thought everyone would just think it was a Nato problem no questions asked all because he said so trust me comrade…unfortunately that joke only works on the Russian zombies it’s a pain for everyone so who ever grabs it first it’s a problem sorted maybe 🧟♀️
which is why its an important weak spot...
A lot of troops have always been stationed there and exercises of Polish, Lithuanian and international forces have been carried out cyclically for many years. Nobody is afraid of Wagner there. Militarily, without air and logistical support, it poses no threat
With Prigozhn and his sidekicks dead the last thing the disordered and defunded Wager is thinking- invading NATO.
It will be go down in 2 days
It's not NATO's weak spot. It's Russia's weak spot, being 0 km wide.
please no more war. my life already hard without war. 😢
Real.
Funny thing is that there seems to be more war when times are hard
NATO countries sell their sovereignty to the US the moment they join NATO, and immediately become US vassals by inviting a foreign military to control their defenses for them. They do it in the interests of economical prosperity, but essentially they become subservient to the larger power.
Sadly we don´t ever get to choose that. War is a reality until mankind evolves enough. Or goes extinct.
Russia can take it but they can’t hold it and would likely lose Kaliningrad in the process.
It would be an enormous mistake to underestimate Poland’s military capabilities.
as an even bigger mistake of overestimating them. Poland does not have the military means to protect itself from Russian strikes, the demonstration of this was made in Kiev, and one of the Ukrainian officials declared that no Kinzhal had been intercepted by any anti-aircraft system than this either. It must be understood that these missiles have a range of 2000 km from Moscow, they can reach Paris and Poland is much closer, Than Russophobia, or your Russophobic impulse does not condemn the Poles for your fantasies
@@davidguy9197 Even if what you say about Kinzhal is true (and i dont think it is) i believe it is pretty clear that one supposedly wonder weapon is not enough to tip the balance of an war. Poland on it's own is a tougher nut to crack. But i think it is pretty obvious that we are talking about totally different level of support from NATO if this scenario would play out. Let's just say that there would be overwhelming air superiority for Poland from day 2 and the russian navy would have no role in such a conflict if it somehow managed to stay afloat after 2-3 weeks.
@@pintiliecatalin air supremacy will not be, in case of conflict, with Russia, the Russians did not venture over Ukraine as long as they had S300s left. the Russians have completely destroyed them, but they have much more efficient S400s, S500s and S550s, there will be no air superiority. the USA will drop the members of NATO under various pretexts, like they made the coup in Ukraine and they are looking for a way to withdraw from it. (without losing face) Russia has no intention to invade poland (since russians and poles cannot frame each other.. let's be honest) as russia does not want eastern ukraine. but ensure his safety. NATO should not overtake Germany to the east. Poland is well placed to see that confidence in NATO is highly questionable. in case of conflict Russia Poland you can be sure that the USA will say that it is poland which attacked (as they say that Russia attacked the Donbass...14000 dead in the Donbass) poland has already lost about 10000 deaths of "volunteers" in Ukraine, but no problem, the USA will send Poland the maximum amount of material to try to "hurt Russia"; this comment is from an American governor: "Ukraine is a good business to hurt Russia" this is the human value of Ukraine for the US establishment. Poland is the next proxy for the US proxy war. Do you really think that Russia is close to Poland? The Russian army is currently the best army in the world, Ukarin was the second largest army in NATO. It is being reduced to pieces. (unless you benefit from the Europe's censorship on the media but the AFU's "counter-offensive" is a disaster. Nearly 47,000 dead since its launch) and take the figures given by Ukraine with enormous tweezers: the Russians shoot 60,000 shells / day when ukraine struggles to shoot 6000
Poland, like everyone else, was pretty much caught flat-footed by the Germans 85 years ago, yet, was able to at a couple of key battles, namely Westerplatte and at the Danzig Post Office give the Germans a good walloping that they did not expect. In short, the Polish Campang was significantly costlier in men, time, and pressure than the Germans anticipated.
The Poles, this time around have been preparing to "welcome" a hostile neighbor for many years.@@davidguy9197
@@davidguy9197 we don't need to stop Kinzhal. We can make proportional or more escalatory response. It's about escalatio control. If You can give back the punch agressor will think twice before even use it.
If you throw Wagner as a threat in this conversation then you must show the numbers of Baltics militaries. While Suwalki gap may be a weak spot, the Wagner in the region is nowhere close to being a threat.
Wagner is their elite orc commandos. They are battle hardened and unlike regular russian units their moral is strong.
Even in small numbers they are a serios threat and dismissing and brushing off something like this is deadly.
It's better to be overprepared if there's an even 1% chance of bad things happening than underprepared hoping for that chance to never materialize.
1000 Wagnerites will bend over all 3 Baltic militaries
@@danstrick331425,000 Wagners can’t even bend Ukraine. How do you expect 1000 to bend the Baltic?
Because Ukraine is the strongest army in Europe, Baltics is the weakest
@@NguyenMinh-vs1vm
@@danstrick3314 Lol Wagner is getting liquidated. Prigozhin, Utkin, and all the other top leaders are now dead. The rest will scatter to the 4 winds or get absorbed into the Russian mil as conscripts and their skills and experience will be lost.
Weak spot? No, almost a non issue. Certainly vulnerable on a map, but swamps, thick forests, and well-armed Lithaunian and Polish mechanized brigades mean this is no weak spot. NATO has recognized this spot for years now, and units constantly train to defend it. They know every hill, creek, and road, and woe betide any Russian assault should they make the mistake of invading.
Did you just forget about the Nordic countries also being across the Baltic Sea? 1:53 NATO has plenty of avenues to protect the 3 amigos and this is just sad misinformed journaling
What a silly video. Nobody in Poland or Lithuania thinks for a second that Wagner mercenaries being stripped of all their heavy equipment after their aborted attempt at overthrowing Putin would stand a chance against Lithuania or especially not poland. They haven't been able to gain much ground in their weaker neighbor state that doesn't have a functioning air force, yet somehow it's realistic that they'll be able to push all the way into Poland to connect Kaliningrad to Belarus?
This video just makes controversy up to make it sound interesting. No serious defense planner is currently worried something like this is on the table
that's funny how serious you take russian power
Media knows everything about Russia it just you puppet who think Russia is weak😂😂😂
Serious enough that the west has long started to send modern weaponery to ukraine to fight Russia federation as a proxy 😂 How's the ukraine counter offesive been going on 🤭🤭🤭
@@akirayagami4226
@@akirayagami4226 How's the ruble? Your 15 rub per comment is now 15 cents ;)
@@andrewrogers3067 who blew up the nord stream pipelines dear??? United states isn't it, Western MSM has been trying really hard to cover up this story all across their own news channel networks. And lastly,
Free Julian Assange!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't see a weak Spot. I see a chance to shoot from both sides.
"I'm not locked in here with you. You are locked in here with me" ☠
How can russia take this 60 mile gap fast when it only advanced 50 miles into ukraine in 18 months
They are slow because they don't want to kill Russian population of Ukraine.
@@Takeawayking971 So far Okraine has pushed ruzkiez back to their 2014 borders. They will win the war and ruzzia will be defeated.
Don't underestimate the military power of Poland!✊️
Hahahahha
1000 modern tanks coming soon! Poland military is downright impressive right now and it’s only getting stronger! Love from 🇨🇦
No, if Russia will attempt to make a land bridge through the Suwalki Gap, Russia will surely lose Kaliningrad.
Source : trust me bro
It would be just as problematic for Russia to prevent Kaliningrad being isolated and overrun since it is basically surrounded. So the argument that NATO is in danger because there is a narrow strip connecting Belarus and Kalinigrad is ridiculous.
Clearly that strip is Russia's weakest link lol. Same as a bridge. They get cut off and supplies stop.
Yeah, after seeing russias performance in Ukraine, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. They couldn’t devote enough troops to take over the baltics, especially now that they’ll have to divert more resources along a newly-established NATO border with Finland.
Finland is in fact not in NATO so therefore there’s no “newly-established NATO border”.
Finland became a full member of NATO on 4 April 2023.
@@X1GenKaneShiroXhave you been living under a rock??
@@nczioox1116No, but I did recently rearrange a few pebbles and found some interesting perspectives. Finland being in NATO though is definitely not accurate and is undoubtedly incorrect.
@@X1GenKaneShiroX i get it now. The trolls farms are being directed to upvote blatently false info in the hopes it will somehow change reality. Russia keeps getting more and more desperate 😂
The minute a single Wagner soldier is found there Poland should close access to Kaliningrad. It is a port, russia can access it without being given a land route.....or trains. It would be interesting to see russia's response to a threat of escalation. If Poland announces its policy before it happens I don't think that either russia or balarus would risk it - there is little to gain and much to lose for putin - kaliningrad is like Crimea, it has 2 frail supply routes.
They will just take lithuania or poland
I am more afraid of Girl Scout Girls than I am afraid of the Russian military
lets rephrase that - "Russia is surrounded in all sides apart from a 60 mile stretch"
Russia also has nuclear weapons
This is sad. A mercenary group with prisoners with little to no training is taken more seriously than The Russian army.
Do not be fooled, the professional mercenary core of the group is arguably up there with pre-war VDV. They're the guys who actually took terrain after defenses were exposed and softened by the waves of prisoners.
All their commanders from battalion to reconnaissance groups are former vdv and spetsnaz alpha a. Idk what ur talking about
Former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, has said “you don’t need paramilitary organizations when you have a strong (state) military”…The CIA referred to their covert proxy war in Laos as”the largest paramilitary operations ever undertaken by the CIA”
@@MrDK0010we aren't fooled, look up battle of Khasham.
Elite spetnaz is weaker than regular US Infantry.
This WSJ report presents a speculative, naive hypothetical about a NATO border with Russia and Belarus. Russia is militarily stalemated in eastern Ukraine. Why would Russia want further humiliation in Poland and Lithuania? Why would Belarus collaborate on a military initiative which is likely to fail. Why would Belarus and Russia want to trigger a NATO military response and possible NATO entry into defense of Ukraine? Kaliningrad is isolated and vulnerable to NATO sanctions and military attack. What strategic goal might Russia have? Belarus?
Yea, I also ask myself why such news company would want to put out such a report. There's one important question you haven't made in your comment, which is: why would Russia want to do this? The only way I can see Russia goign for this is if Kaliningrad is under real threat of being taken from Russia.
Mm remember that, with Sweden and Finland in NATO, the Baltic thus effectively is then a NATO lake. Remember also and not shown on the map, Denmark and Norway are already in the NATO alliance.
"Moscow would also gain more access to the baltic sea, a crucial gateway for commercial shipping"
Uhmm, thing is, in the scenario they did attack the gap, they would have zero shipping through the baltics. They would have to attack two NATO nations, which automatically would make Denmark / Sweden close the two narrow straits that gives access to the atlantic. These straits are narrow enough, you could fire at ships with small arms for heavens sake. Not like you are going to sneak any vessel of worth through those straits, not even a u-boat.
0:49 Tip. Next time, use the metric system. It's a video about Europe were every country uses the metric system 😉
I'm American and the video is fine just Google miles to kilometers it's easy
@@13ased_American Then you would not have a problem with the metric system Google kilometers to miles it's easy
@@geenkaas6380the world uses the metrics system because britain and france colonized 70% of it. We won against them we can use whatever we want.
@@salvatoreregalbuto5444How did you win?
@@geenkaas6380 because we won our independence and three US states alone have a higher gdp than france or UK
Pre WW2 EST, LAT,LIT where also free independent states. there´s a report somewhere written by an American military officer detailing the situation in the Baltics and the desperation of 3 states trying to find allies in the world - with no results.
I am glad to see that we aren´t alone this time around!
I’m no military expert but is NATO really worried about Wagner? Should they really be?? Or is media just hyping this.? There is no way Wagner can pose a threat against Nato
Nato thought the same about Afghanistan and got hum after 20 years not too long ago 😂
@@jamesgreen1116 in non conventional warfare, while Russia is getting their arses handed to them by the small country Ukraine in peer to peer warfare
The gap shouldn't be called a 'weak spot' by any means. Simply considering the geography of the terrain (plenty of water channels/lakes/higher elevation on the polish border near Kaliningrad) - very difficult for the offensive troops to navigate through. For an enemy to even have a remote chance of taking (not mentioning holding this position), they would have to throw in a force with a size multiple times that of the defending force.
That's not happening.
Just reading this title and seeing where it's at I'm just gonna assume he's been ignoring Polands massive military build up. This time Poland making sure that they have teeth. They had to deal with the Nazis then the Soviets I don't blame Poland at all.
"Fun" fact: the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) - particularly under the OUN-B - brutally massacred hundreds of thousands of poles to assist the nazi death machine. "Funny" how the contemporary Polish government is now ostensibly supporting the Ukrainian military bulwark proudly stemming from this exact lineage under the big tent of NATO (a glorified protection racket and US political cudgel - its internally recognized geopolitical function stated by its first sec.gen. Lord Ismay being to _"keep the Americans in, the Germans down, and the Russians out"_ and what a "coincidence" it continues to enforce this state of play, especially obvious noting the destruction of Nord Stream II clearly in some capacity directed by the US to keep these regions divided and conquered - a tactic I think best encapsulated in the so-called "strategy of tension", also highlighted by insane covert ops like Operation Gladio). I would imagine the _actual_ purpose of this Wall Street Journal vignette is to lay some groundwork justification for potential Polish invasion currently being considered by its ultranationalist adjacent (this ultranationalism/neonazi ideological tunnel-vision is not a coincidence is my macro point here) leadership.
I'm not sure what "dealing with" the Soviets means if we look at the actual history here in a holistic continuity of tidal material realities (historical materialism) instead of deferring to anti-communist propaganda so universally present in "the west" yet mostly imaginary and/or intentionally contrived (for more see: Manufacturing Consent by Chomsky/Herman or Inventing Reality/Blackshirts and Reds/anything by Michael Parenti). Not blaming anyone for succumbing to this ubiquitous mythology, just trying to illuminate some truth - like for example, here's a description from wikipedia about what had to be "dealt with" under the Polish People's Republic - a description which has this hegemonic strain of anticommunism built-in, making the contradictions rather stark:
_"Despite the numerous economic hardships, some major achievements were established during this period, including improved living conditions, rapid industrialization, and urbanization. Access to universal health care, abortion and free education were made available, and the population almost doubled between 1947 and 1989."_
A weak spot that Russia may have is that more than 50% or majority of countries in the European continent are in NATO. Obviously, Finland and Sweden are not included in NATO so Kaliningrad is not entirely surrounded by NATO which is good news for Russia however Poland and Lithuania still does borders it so it would be quite problematic for Russia in that region. NATO spends 18x more or $1,177 billion dollars ($1.18 trillion) on military while Russia spends $66 billion dollars so Russia here appears to be the underdog when compared to NATO. Russia might need to think of a different strategy because using the Suwalki Gap to sabotage against NATO would definitely not work smoothly that Russians would hope.
finland is part of nato
Finland is already in NATO and Sweden is unofficially interlinked with NATO structures for decades. Sweden has begun its largest military exercise in more than 25 years this spring with the participation of numerous NATO countries.... According to the report, 26,000 soldiers from 14 countries will take part in the exercises, which are scheduled to last until May 11.
The maneuvers are concentrated in southern and northern Sweden, as well as on the strategically important island of Gotland. Germany, Austria, the United States, Great Britain, Finland, Poland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Denmark and France are taking part in the exercises.
April 4, 2023 | By Jim Garamone , DOD News |
Finland has formally become a NATO ally.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg today welcomed the new member when Finland's flag was raised alongside those of the 30 other nations in the alliance during a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "From today, 31 flags will fly together - a symbol of our unity and our solidarity."
@krossbolt4100 Finland are being used!
Türkiye has agreed to let Sweden in.
Чмобики 🇷🇺 : - Товарищ майор, еды хватит только на пол батальона?
Майор 🇷🇺 : - Ну, тогда пообедаем после атаки.
Thanks for telling everyone!
It's laughable to call Belarus a stronghold
population of 9 million and a GDP of $73 billion USD. The baltic countries have 2/3 the population but twice the GDP. Sounds like Belarus is the weak spot, not the Suwalki gap
Uh no. Have you not been watching the NATO drills in that area? A weak spot would be somewhere that every is talking about and well known. Nato had a large boarder with Russia and Belarussia, so I'd suspect there's definitely a weaker spot.
Lithuania and Poland are practically daring Russia to try it. Both have rapidly adopted modernization. Poland especially has taken the lessons of Cold War abuses by the USSR to heart and built up a modern, well equipped military. They'd be pretty happy to help Russia learn just how effective NATO anti armor weapons, artillery, and air power is.
Even if Putin manages to get ahold of Baltic ports, I'm pretty sure national guerillas would make them more a distraction than an asset to the Russian Navy. This branch has been harassed, humbled, and humiliated by Ukraine. I don't know how in the world it would face a strong and competent Naval force. Remind me where the Moskva is?
that,s like a baby snapping turtle challenging the great bear of the north , who,s going to help them the toothless dog faced serpent with the swelling forked tough .
Moskow Moskow narana nana!
You forgot something that is a nuclear weapon that can erase the whole of Europe in 30 minutes, just as NATO can erase Russia. there will be no winner 🧐
🤣🤣
clown
I'm no military or war expert, but it would be hard for any country to have war on many fronts.
Unless you are America :) 🇦🇺 🇺🇸
But yes, completely agree.
Don't sell yourself short. You have a keyboard and an Internet connection. We're all military experts on TH-cam. 😅
I honestly doubt Ruzzia would even be able to take the gap at this point, yet alone hold it.
to all people Russia is not USSR and is not a threat to anyone, can't we see how the Ukraine military operation is going on
Well they're certainly a threat in the sense that they could do massive damage, even without any strategic success.
But thinking they even remotely have a chance to cur off the baltic is just a pipe dream. Even if it were just Polish forces they most likely wouldn't be able to take it
Open google maps, find Suwałki gap, and now find a direct route from Belarus to Kaliningrad. There is no such way. The nearest ones are located several dozen kilometers north and south of Suwałki. There is also the topography of the terrain - there are many lakes and quite high hills. Which makes this region very difficult to attack.
What kind of military vehicles were those?
No such thing as a weak spot when you have the tech and missiles and delivery packages NATO has.
They could turn that land into a car park from the Med and still be in time for last orders.
NATO (under the control of USA) will not react against Russia motherland, unless USA mainland is attacked. Russia will not attack USA mainland, so USA will do what they do for Ukraine.
@@teckmenglee8060 Don't worry, they will react. Failure to do so would bring US reputation with allies to ruins. They can't afford it.
@@teckmenglee8060 That’s just wishful thinking with no evidence to back it up. USA will have no choice but to act or give up the crown as world superpower as the world would have seen that they never meant it when they said they would fight for their allies. And what about it? Europe can act independently on USA. Polish army of 325k which has very modern eguipment is before any kind of mobilisation even begins strong enough to hold Russia off before rest of European forces arrive. Then we have Finland, perhaps strongest military in europe who will act as it’s goverment and people would never betray it’s allies
If Wagner group dares attack in Suwalki, they will be obliterated quickly. And they know it.
NATO knows this and separately you.
If Russia attacked there will be no Kalingrad
Looks like Wagner has some other issues to figure out first
Russia attacks Suwalki Gap -> triggers article 5 -> NATO becomes directly involved -> Russian military effectively destroyed.
You won't exist to see any of that lol
@@southpole4776 Oooh scary!!!
@@erichert1001 lol even keyboard warriors can't escape nukes
@@southpole4776 *You* of all people say that? 😁
Your troll factory is prolly inside the estimated fireball radius. Or are you guys allowed to work from home these days?
@@erichert1001
Presumably, you are an adolescent.
Looks like Kaliningrad is the weak spot and not the other way around.
NATO needs to figure out this problem and fast.
If Russia tried to take that region, it would be a turkey shoot. It would make Kuwaits Highway of Death look like a warning shot.
LOL at this ridiculous fear mongering about Russians conventional military. They couldn't take Kiev. Pretty sure NATO, which would have massive air superiority and logistical advantage, could take them.
Nevermind, forgot to think about Lockheed's shareholders. I change my mind. Russia super scary. Must spend more money!!!!
The problem is, Russians also make the same assumptions based on the Fiasco that took place just a year earlier in Afghanistan.
One might even suggest that it was the debacle in Afghanistan that made Russians access Nato as suprisingly weak and humble.
Two nuclear armed powers have inferiority complex against their rivals, it's a whole lot of bad omen
@@dosa2990 the soldiers in afghanistan had air conditioning and mcdonalds, russians ran out of fuel invading a neighboring country.
@@rhards the Russian backed Afghanistan regime lasted for good 6 years before being outset by Mujhudeen. Just how long did it take them to oust the Nato backed Afghani govt? 6 months? 6 weeks ??6 days???
@@rhardsyour argument has no much weight. Russian troops may have run out of fuel in the first days of the war, but a few months later they corrected their mistake, and you never heard about fuel shortage again in the Western biased media. What's your point?
after Ukraine, what significant resourses will Russia have to occupy this gap? Poland is rapidly becoming Europe's most powerful land based military. Hard to imagine Russia being able to stand up to Poland, let alone NATO troops.
Poland won't get caught unprepared again ,long memories from way back ,Putlar only respects Strength in an enemy
I would say.. after war Kaliningrad can be a gift for Lithuania ;)
I'm willing to bet that this area is lowkey heavily defended with rapid response plans already in place should anything happen.
That he has to make incredible efforts to moderate it. As for me, I know of no passion for the suppression of which I would be able to make such an effort. At such a high cost, I would not even want to acquire wisdom. Speaking of this military man, I pay attention not to what he does, but to what efforts he should not do even worse.
Another acquaintance of mine boasted before me of his even and gentle disposition, indeed striking. In response, I told him that, especially for people who, like him, occupy a high position and are in front of everyone, it is extremely important to always show restraint, but that the main thing is to feel it in yourself, in the depths of your soul; and therefore, in my opinion, he does badly who secretly constantly gnaws at himself: it can be feared that he wants to maintain this appearance of restraint, to maintain this mask put on himself.
Trying to hide the anger, he is driven inside; this reminds me of the following incident: one day Diogenes shouted to Demosthenes, who, fearing that he would not be noticed in the tavern, hurried to hide in the back of the room: “The more you back away, the deeper you get into the tavern” [2266]. I recommend that it is better to slap your servant even inopportunely than to pretend to be a sage who impresses with his restraint; I prefer to reveal my passions than to hide them to my own detriment: having manifested themselves, they dissipate and fly away, and it is better that their sting go out than poison us from within. Omnia vitia in aperto leviora sunt; et tunc perniciosissima, cum simulata sanitate subsidunt [2267].
I warn those of my household who have the right to be annoyed about the following. First, that they should restrain their anger and not fall into it on every occasion, for it does not make an impression and has no effect if it is manifested too often. They get used to the senseless and constant crying and begin to despise it. The cry that a servant who has stolen something hears from you is completely useless; the servant knows that this is the same cry that he heard from you hundreds of times when he happened to wash a glass badly or awkwardly put a stool under your feet. Secondly, I warn them not to be angry with the wind, that is, that their reproaches reach the one to whom they are intended, for usually they begin to scold even before the appearance of the culprit and continue to shout for hours when he has already caught a trace;
ChatGPT, you hallucinating again? C'mon, dude.
@@nerenahd chatGPT been on the digital weed
I see a lot of media talking about this both now and in the past and honestly, seeing how the Ukrainian invasion is going, I still don't understand why Russia is considered a dangerous country (nuclear aside) when it is completely proving not to be up to the task so I don't see the point of talking about the danger of these 60 miles.
The problem is, Russians also make the same assumptions based on the Fiasco that took place just a year earlier in Afghanistan.
One might even suggest that it was the debacle in Afghanistan that made Russians access Nato as suprisingly weak and humble.
Two nuclear armed powers have inferiority complex against their rivals, it's a whole lot of bad omen
Nuclear aside???...You must be joking...that's the problem...you never know with dictators...specially if they are weak
It's dangerous to underestimate your enemies.
You are doing exactly what the Russians did to Ukraine: assumption and underestimation.
@@javierderivero9299as if USA never used any .
You call it a weak spot, NATO calls it a their killing ground. Besides, if Russia attacked, NATO wouldn't try to squeeze through the gap, they would steamroller the entire Kaliningrad border. Kaliningrad would be gone by lunchtime.
Nice graphics and soft voice over can't hide the fact the story is scrap metal covered with a thin layer of chrome
The Baltic sea is transforming into the Alliance sea and it's beautiful.
Nato lake ❤
I think he forgets or underestimates America's airlift capabilities. Also, that's why we have a powerful Airforce that can suppress any Russian advancement before our troop support can arrive.
gather an army and move it there, 6 months, (that's the time it took to prepare the attack on Iraq. We compare Iraqi air defense to that of Russia?
I fear that this huge air fleet will become a submarine fleet before it can land its passengers.
clashing with Russia's built-in defense risks putting a lot of things back in place. NATO is going to attack Russia well, without ammunition? Germany no longer has an industry, France is on the bone, the USA is scraping the bottoms of the cupboards, the NATO countries produce in a month what the Ukraine produces in three days (a week by saving ) Russia draws at least ten times what Ukraine draws, stop your trip, and throw away your joints. It's like in June 2022 Russia has no more missiles, it has fired 100 a day since it has no more. You will have to sober up, the headache will be colossal
"NATO’s ‘Weak Spot’ Against Russia?" That would be the failure of NATO members to spend money on weapons and training for NATO. Then, too, the fact NATO Nations have allowed themselves to be invaded by North African, Middle Eastern, and East European peoples needs to be considered.
60 miles long, but how wide is it? In any case, that line would be difficult to hold.
It’s Impossible to hold for any segnificant period of time that’s why every one who knows how tactics and strategy works think it’s a laughable topic to discuss , moreover, in case of any attack the whole Kaliningrad region will be completely encircled …
Russia can occupy that narrow corridor but it is very unlikely they can hold it. Before they can build defenses poland alone can liberate it and with all neighbor reinforces it would be even easier
Poland would at last get chance to speedrun Moscow
the weak spot is being purely defensive - allowing your enemy to chose when and where to attack is the weakest link.
I wonder the effect this alliance with Putin has had on Belarus, what is the situation there and the implications for Russian operations because of it. I haven’t seen anyone cover it recently
You can eliminate the "gap" by bringing Königsberg back home, where it belongs.
The NATO-membership of Finland ensures Russia will prioritise the Kola Peninsula to protect their military airfields there.
Should they still opt for the Suwalki Gap, you'll be sure that Sweden - a Baltic Powerhouse - would ensure the Baltics are supplied with both troops and supplies to hold the Russians back.
They also have major nuclear stockpiles close to their border with Finland and the fact N.A.T.O has complete acess to the Baltic sea to do as they wish. Their neutrality was a key factor in deciding their location of such weapons. Finland joining N.A.T.O is a serious threat to their nuclear strategic defense against the west. Scary times we living in.
@alialimohamed9410 Agreed, fear for profits. The real winner is the M.I.C and share holders who are gonna rake in serious money off contracts for weapons. However, there is serious concern about geopolitical moves like this under nation security and as we are seeing, we have no clue what nations will do when they claim national security concerns. Look no further than Ukraine as example.
@@pranteranaud3617 " Look no further than Ukraine as example"
Russian Troll.
NATO has amassed 300000 troups in Europe on high readiness ...
Why to fear about Wagner group is they send a few hundreds or thousands to Belarus ??.
Width of Savalki gap is very thin and oth sides of this thin line are NATO nations ..
Non ho capito .
A quale nazione appartiene la zona di Suwalki ?
Россия 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺
Russia would not dare to cross the line and give NATO an excuse to go on a direct-offensive. That'll be the start of end of the regimes in Belarus and Russia.
Same goes for nato lol😂😂😂
Was wondering how would all those eu nation states continue to survive with nukes dropping onto all of their major
cities😅
Don't forget this is not iraq or libya !!!!!!!
@@akirayagami4226 You're making pre-Ukraine invasion assumption that the Russian military is still intact. We've already seen how defunct Russian equipment is, whos to say the same isn't true for their nuclear arsenal.
Especially when the EU/NATO has been threatened fairly regularly by alcoholic Russian government officials. Yet we're still yet to see "tactical" nukes deployed. Instead Putin seems content to use Ukraine's nuclear power plant as tool to coax the West into slowing its support for Ukraine.
@@akirayagami4226I love that russia is only surviving because it has nukes like North Korea! Wow very proud 😂
@@danielcaponi9839 You're probably also proud of how the USA won against Japan. After years of warfare they had captured only small Japanese islands such as Okinawa and Iwo Jima at the cost of massive soldier losses, but not even a square mile of Japan's main territory. So they decided to kill 200,000 Japanese civilians ( *not soldiers* ) in just 4 days to force Emperor Hirohito to sign unconditional surrender.
A glorious victory, right? Wow, very proud 🤣
@@trumpforever6706Japan killed 15 million Chinese and still didnt win
The first 10 miles from Belarus are in dense forest. There is a durt road thorugh the forest parallel to the polish-lithuanian border on the lithuanian side. After that, it's open land.
So Russia / Wagner have to move through open land, where it would be relatively easy to attack them from both sides. It sounds like a loose-loose to Putin / Prigozhin.
The russian army is nothing more than a joke at this point. The WSJ is just looking for clicks, this is ridiculous.
What do you call the space in between a hammer and an anvil? A weak spot? I don't think so...
Come on then Russia….. we dare you 👊
Oh but Russia must be rather worried about Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) deciding to have a referendum to join one of its previous "motherlands" - Germany, for instance.
I'd say it's a weak spot for russia because if russia *ever* touches it, then they lose their courtesy possession of Kaliningrad.
Try it
Yah ironic Kaliningrad is the modern-day West Berlin.
I see this very differently as Kalingrad is surrounded on 3 sides by Poland and Lithuania
It was a weak spot, before Finland and Sweden's ascension to nato. Now the baltic is an inland sea of nato, and can be used to supply Estonia easily. Rather, Russia will find it impossible to defend Kaliningrad in a full blown conflict. They are already depleting their reserve forces and weapon stockpiles in Ukraine.
It's Russian weakest or unluckiest spot but NATO's luckiest spots 😅😅
According to the report, the Polish PM expressed concern that 100 Wagnerites approached the border and responded by sending 10,000 troops to guard against them.
What a freaking joke!
What amazes me, is I see nobody talking about Polish foreign minister statement earlier this year, that Poland will enter the war directly if it realises that Ukraine is about to be defeated. This is a very serious statement that nobody is given due attention. I mean, people like to talk about these kind of news, but this time people are silent (on both sides---pro Ukraine and pro Russia).
Now, here are the facts this report ignored:
- military potential of Kaliningrad was obliterated by war in Ukraine. Units from this 'stronghold' were decimated by Armed Forces of Ukraine
- the whole region is packed with Polish and NATO military units, new units are formed.
- Wagner group most probably left Belarus as Lukashenka didn't want to pay for their presence
- Polish govt is keen to exaggerate and use external threats for political gains and to get upper hand in internal politics
Well if the area is highly contested during land invasion. The sky is the key and with the current status of Russia, Just Poland and The US Fighters station there can open that spot in a matter of week. Might even gain air superiority quickly with proper reinforcement.
Russia would not send troops to try to invade and hold this gap, as they'd be attacked from both sides. What they COULD do, if they wanted to invade the Baltics, is to bomb, then aerially deliver mines, or even nerve gas, onto the two highways and one rail line that pass through it. This would delay any overland response by a few days. But having its hands full with Ukraine, I don't see invading the Baltics being on their radar anytime soon. If anything, this sounds more like an issue developed by the party in power in Poland.
Here's a clever comment, now rare to see lately. I would add that the attack plan you proposed would make no sense anyway, as it would certainly lead to World War III and a global nuclear conflict. It would then be more effective to launch a surprise global strike with nuclear weapons on all NATO nations, a bit like Japan did in December 1941 when, forced by heavy American and British sanctions on the oil trade, it made a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor sinking the entire Pacific Fleet in one fell swoop. Before that attack no one in the West believed that military action of this magnitude was possible, just as today no one thinks that because of the sanctions Russia could decide to do something like this, but with nuclear weapons.
Trump warned of the great danger:
th-cam.com/video/71kvy99SV8w/w-d-xo.html
if it happens it won't be his fault but someone else's.
@@trumpforever6706Ah, one "good" military strategy deserves another? Of course the Americans and Brits "forced" Japan to sink PACFLT, rather, they planned it all along, like they were sitting in strategy sessions with JNAF! The only good strategy for sanctions is to attack the oppressor!! Haha!
@jackuzi8252
Hahaha thus says our "military genius"
Any attack by Russia, Belarus, or Wagner in this region would end in quick defeat and could mean the end of the Russian Baltic Fleet entirely (or at least whatever is at Kaliningrad Oblast and the Baltiysk naval base). A couple dozen Tomahawks could render their Baltic fleet pretty much inoperative, and if they wanted to they could take out the easily take out the few ships at the Leningrad Naval Base as well.
Suwalki gap is the most militarized place in Europe.
It's a no man's land for both sides. Neither can hold it 100% of all of the time. But with Sweden and Finland coming to NATO, it makes this worst for Russia getting to Kaliningrad long term.
Russia couldn't hold the Sulwalki Gap for long. A massive air Armada of NATO planes would make it impossible for Russian land forces!
Air defence?
@@dosa2990 curently all in ukraine even moskov isnt protected
@@dosa2990 Not enough for all Nato's planes
@@dosa2990good question what is air defence doing? 😂
@@danielcaponi9839 protecting incursions from airspace. Real question is, whats so funny?
Wouldn't NATO just send hundreds of Polish tanks into Kaliningrad supported by thousands of war planes?
Far from it being a weakness. It’s only weak if it’s not manned.
The only reason Kaliningrad remains Russian and Belarus continues to exist is because NATO has chosen it to be so. We should view Kaliningrad as a ‘Weak Spot’ for Russia. What prevents NATO from returning Königsberg (now known as "Kaliningrad") to Germany or Poland is the West's commitment to the rule of law. Now, with over 90% of their combat forces deployed in Ukraine, it's doubtful that Russia could defend St. Petersburg from Finland, Königsberg and Belarus from Poland, or Moscow from the US.
Nuclear weapons are there the west is DETERRED Biden has no political space to fight a war in Europe anyway
That's some military expert.
That's some MSNBC gibberish military expert there 👍😂😂.
Clickbait by the media. If Russia does something there will be no "gap" because there will no Kaliningrad region anymore. It just exists because the Europeans are that nice. And Russia thinks it's weakness. The same with Transnistria.
Excellent point, I was going to say the same but not as articulate lol. Funny how Russia claims this is its territory when it's a WW2 transfer.