The Suwalki Gap: The Most Vulnerable Stretch of Land in Europe
The Suwalki Gap: The Most Vulnerable Stretch of Land in Europe
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The landscape around Grzybina, Poland in the Suwalki Gap, the piece of land at the border between Poland and Lithuania, a militarily vulnerable area which connects NATO to the Baltic States.
The potential capture by Russian forces of the Suwalki Gap or bordering Lithuanian territory would cut off the three Baltic States from other NATO countries, January 2017.Timothy Fadek— Redux Pictures
The Suwalki gap is about 60 miles long, a stretch of land found on Poland’s border with Lithuania. Its vulnerability could decide the fate of the Baltic states.
The land connects the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad with Belarus, known for being a Moscow ally. Its possible exposure to Kremlin control is a source of worry for U.S. officials, the Wall Street Journal reports.
If Moscow gained control of the corridor the Baltic States would, catastrophically, be cut off from other NATO allies. The U.S. will lead a deterrent force from April 2017 based at the Suwalki gap in an attempt to secure the area.
Northeastern Poland at the border with Lithuania, formerly part of the Soviet Union.The 60-mile stretch of land known as the Suwualki Gap connects Poland and NATO countries to the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, January 2017.Timothy Fadek—Redux PicturesAn American M1 Abrams tank, part of an increased U.S. troop deployment to Poland and Eastern Europe to defend NATO borders in response to fears of Russian aggression in the region, January 2017.Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesA U.S. soldier with the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division trains in Poland at Camp Karliki in Zagan, Poland, as part of a nine-month deployment in support of Atlantic Resolve, the NATO plan to bolster military support in Europe in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine and Crimea, January 2017.Timothy Fadek—ReduxPolish soldiers stand at attention during a joint exercise with newly arrived American troops in Zagan, Poland. The Pentagon has deployed thousands of U.S. soldiers to Eastern Europe to show commitment to its NATO allies, January 2017.Timothy Fadek—Redux PicturesA World War II bunker in Gruszki, Poland, at the border with Belarus. Situated next to Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic States of Lithuania and Latvia, historically this has been a region of shifting borders and territorial control.Timothy Fadek—Redux PicturesAmerican troops recently deployed to Zagan, Poland and Eastern Europe to defend NATO borders amid fears of Russian expansion, January 2017.Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesA cross at an intersection at the border between Poland and Belarus.
NATO is committed to defending NATO member states in the region from possible Russian agession.Timothy Fadek—Redux PicturesThe narrow piece of land known as the Suwalki Gap, pictured on this map, connects Poland and Lithuania. According to a recent Rand report this vulnerable area could easily by taken by Russian forces thereby cutting off he Baltic States from other NATO countries, January 2017.Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesThe landscape around Grzybina, Poland in the Suwalki Gap, the piece of land at the border between Poland and Lithuania, a militarily vulnerable area which connects NATO to the Baltic States.
The potential capture by Russian forces of the Suwalki Gap or bordering Lithuanian territory would cut off the three Baltic States from other NATO countries, January 2017.Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesA plastic decorative bison outside a butcher, Punsk, Poland, close to the Lithuanian border in the Suwalki Gap, a region that is a militarily vulnerable, as it connects the Baltic States to other NATO members. All three of the Baltic States, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, have been independent since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, and are members of the European Union and NATO.Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesThe food court at the Suwalki Plaza, a shopping center in the
The Suwalki Gap, Poland, which borders the Baltic States and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, where the Russia's Baltic Fleet and Russian missile systems are based, January 2017.Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesAlicja Bielecka, 85, lives alone in the area in Poland known as the Suwalki Gap which borders the Baltic States, and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. She does not trust Russia and is afraid to discuss politics with her friends at the senior center, January 2017. Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesA soldier in the Polish army goes shopping near the base in Orzysz, Poland. Soldiers from this base are assigned to patrols near the border with Lithuania, also known as the Suwalki Gap, January 2017.Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesYoung couples in Suwalki, Poland.
The Suwalki Gap
is a narrow piece of land connecting NATO member states Poland and Lithuania.
Russian missiles from Kaliningrad could block eastern Poland and the Baltic States from NATO support.
In addition to the region's problematic geography and militarized environment due to neighboring Kaliningrad and Belarus, the Suwalki Gap is different and potentially an even more vulnerable target because the Kremlin could exploit the region's historic ethnic tensions, January 2017.
Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesPiotr Serydzinski, a retired farmer, holds Russia in high regard and did business with the country in the past. He believes that fears of a Russian invasion in the Suwalki are fueled by western propaganda, December 2016.Timothy Fadek— Redux PicturesJan Pieczulis, a farmer whose family has owned the land for four generations, holds his grandson Patryk. Jan's main concern is finding new distributors to sell his milk, now that the border crossing to Kaliningrad has been closed. He tried not to watch T.V. news because Russia upsets him. Although his family is Polish, they are ethnically Lithuanian, and worry about the possibility of being occupied by Russia, January 2016.
Timothy Fadek—Redux PicturesA road in the Suwalki Gap, the narrow piece of land that connects the NATO member states of Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, January 2017.Timothy Fadek— Redux Pictures
