NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that it is the duty of the North Atlantic Alliance to protect all allies and that this applies to the entire territory of Poland, including the Suwalki gap in northeastern Poland and Lithuania.
The Suwalki Gap separates the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea from Belarus, now hosts thousands of Russian troops and is the only way to travel by road or rail from Poland and Central Europe to the Baltic states.
Stoltenberg made the statement during a press conference on Thursday, when asked about Russian media reports on how Russia has “explored” the possibility of a corridor in Kaliningrad and whether this poses a real threat to Poland.
He reiterated that as far as Kaliningrad or any land corridor was concerned, the Alliance was obliged to protect all the Allies. He added that, to rule out any misunderstanding with Moscow, NATO had significantly increased its presence in its eastern areas.
Stoltenberg said that NATO’s task was to prevent Russia from using Kaliningrad or any other pretext to launch aggressive operations against any NATO country, PAP reports.