Polish president says Suwałki Gap potential target for “hybrid attacks”

April 6, BPN. The European Union’s territory between Belarus and Russia’s enclave of Kaliningrad, known as the Suwałki Gap, is a potential area for all sorts of hybrid provocations, Polish President Andrzej Duda has told Polskie Radio Program 3.

The North Atlantic Alliance should pay special attention to this area, he stressed.

Alaksandr Łukašenka’s regime is responsible for the “hybrid attack” on the EU using illegal migrants, which had started before Russia attacked Ukraine, Duda said, noting that he has evidence to prove it.

The Suwałki Gap is considered to be a “weak link” because its potential occupation by Belarusian and Russian troops would cut off the Baltic states from the rest of the EU on land and allow Russia to set up a quick direct supply of weapons and military equipment to the Kaliningrad enclave.  

In late November 2022, about 2,000 NATO troops participated in the Tumak 22 drills in the Suwałki area near the Polish-Belarusian border.