NATO members are preparing plans for evacuating their populations in the event of an attack by Russia, according to reports. The plans focus around an area called the Suwałki Gap, which connects the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad with the Russian-allied state of Belarus via a 60-mile stretch of the Polish and Lithuanian border.
If Russian forces were to move from Belarus across the gap to Kaliningrad, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania could be cut off from the rest of Europe. Lithuania and Poland are currently working together on a framework for plans in case of Kremlin hostilities.
Bilateral agreement and nationwide drills
The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Centre has announced the creation of a bilateral agreement alongside nationwide drills in the country, which included plans for evacuation along the Polish-Lithuanian border. Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, explained plans will provide for the evacuation of Lithuania as well as Latvia and Estonia if necessary.
He said: “Procedures, logistics, and infrastructure capabilities are being analysed together with colleagues from Poland, and the plan itself should be developed once an agreement is reached between the two countries.”
Border controls and drill participation
Plans for a possible Russian invasion include border controls to “prevent people in certain key roles from leaving the country”. Some 3,000 officials and around 1,000 volunteers are taking part in the drills in Lithuania, along with around 20 Polish officials who have travelled there to take part.
Polish PM's warning and recent incidents
Earlier this month Polish prime minister Donald Tusk warned Russia was preparing drone and missile strikes against countries that had been supporting Ukraine. Tusk issued the warning in the Polish parliament last week, citing intelligence assessments which said Russia could carry out attacks against his country and other countries on NATO's eastern flank while presenting them as accidents.
He said such attacks could be intended to test NATO's willingness to invoke Article 5, which requires member states to come to the aid of an ally under attack. His words came just days before Poland was forced to scramble fighter jets on Wednesday after a Russian military helicopter crossed into its airspace. The Mi-8 made a brief incursion near the Polish town of Braniewo after entering the country’s airspace from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the Polish military said.
NATO jets were again scrambled over the country last Saturday (September 19) after Russia launched a wave of jet-powered drone strikes across neighbouring Ukraine.
