Lithuania Warns Russia's Kaliningrad Will Be Vulnerable When Finland, Sweden Join NATO

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th August, 2022) The Russian exclave region of Kaliningrad will become vulnerable if Sweden and Finland join NATO, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said on Wednesday.

"If Finland and Sweden become NATO members at the end of the year, then the Suwalki Gap can no longer be considered a bottleneck of NATO countries, but the entire Kaliningrad Region can be considered a vulnerable part of Russia. That is, the situation will fundamentally change. And I think this is an important message for Russia," Anusauskas told Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.

Poland has repeatedly expressed concerns that the 100-kilometer (62-mile) long Suwalki Gap near the Polish city of Suwalki, located between Belarus and the Kaliningrad Region, is a vulnerable point from a military point of view.

Finland and Sweden handed over applications to join the alliance in mid-May to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the light of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. So far, the applications are yet to be ratified by Spain, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Hungary.