Polish soldiers take part in TUMAK-22 NATO exercises in an area known as the Suwalki Gap, of crucial significance to the security of the alliance’s eastern flank, at a polygon in Klusy, Poland. (Image: Reuters)
Wagner mercenaries stationed in Belarus could be crucial if Russia plans to take over Lithuania by grabbing the Suwalki Corridor.
Russia is making plans to use Wagner mercenaries who are now stationed in Belarus to launch an offensive against NATO by attacking what they believe is its weakest link, called the Suwalki Corridor, aka the Suwalki Gap.
A report by the UK-based Daily Mail said that the 96-km Suwalki Corridor – a strip of land along the Poland-Lithuania border spanning from northwest Belarus to the southeastern border of Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad – could be used to strike NATO.
This choke point has for long been considered as NATO’s Achilles Heel and in 2020 Belarus and Russia practised a mock invasion of Lithuania during the Zapad Military Exercises.
The control of this choke point is crucial for NATO because it is the only land link it has to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, erstwhile USSR nations. If Russia and Belarus manage to gain control of this piece of land, they could be able to cut NATO off from accessing these three nations which are NATO members.
This would also allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to build a land link to Kaliningrad which is the main base of Putin’s Baltic forces.
The Daily Mail report citing a Russian parliamentarian said that mercenary forces were ready to march on the corridor within a span of a few hours.
This could also mean an escalation of the war as both Poland and Lithuania are members of NATO and a Russian attack on the corridor would trigger Article 5 of NATO’s treaty which says that an armed attack against one or more of any of its European or North American members will be considered an attack on all of them.
Wagner forces are currently in Belarus and according to its president, Alexander Lukashenko, they are training its troops. “Near Osipovichi, units of territorial defence troops are undergoing training. Fighters of the Wagner private military company are acting as instructors in a number of military disciplines,” Belarusian defence ministry said in a statement.
Both Poland and Ukraine are on alert and are monitoring the Wagner mercenary threat. Polish special services are monitoring how many mercenaries end up in Belarus.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was “closely monitoring what is happening there in terms of security”.
