Inspection of ‘NATO Achilles heel’ Suwauki Corridor evacuation route… Review of evacuation of Baltic countries

Amid growing concerns about Russian military threats and hybrid attacks, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries Poland and Lithuania have begun preparing a joint plan to evacuate civilians in case of emergency.

According to the British daily Telegraph on the 27th (local time), both countries are examining evacuation procedures, logistics, and related infrastructure assuming a crisis situation such as a Russian attack, and are also pursuing a bilateral agreement for this purpose.

In particular, the two countries are focusing on reviewing an evacuation route through the 'Suwalki Corridor' between the Polish and Lithuanian borders, which is approximately 96 km long. This region, located between the Russian extraterritorial territory of Kaliningrad and the pro-Russian state Belarus, is a strategic point connecting the Baltic states with the rest of NATO by land.

If Russia moves troops from Belarus across the Subawki Corridor toward Kaliningrad, land connections between the Baltic states and their Central and Western European allies could be severed.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center, said that if necessary, they are considering evacuating residents not only of Lithuania but also of Latvia and Estonia.

Director-General Wittkauskas explained that border control measures are also being considered to ensure that military mobilization is not disrupted in the event of a threat at the border and to prevent personnel in key positions from leaving the country.

As vigilance against hybrid threats targeting Europe, such as Russian drone invasions and sabotage, has recently increased, NATO's eastern members are strengthening their posture to protect civilians and defend infrastructure.

In a threat assessment released on the 24th, the Danish Defense Intelligence Agency predicted that Russia would further intensify its hybrid warfare against NATO and the West in the coming months, and warned that the risk of launching a limited military attack on NATO members was "low but increasing."

Western intelligence officials have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is making preliminary preparations for the so-called 'covert mobilization' of thousands of additional troops after the general election.

“We are seeing administrative arrangements being made to enable such a decision if it is taken,” an intelligence source told the Telegraph.