Lukashenko discusses possible attack on Suwałki Gap

Self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. Screenshot: Pul Pervogo
Self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. Screenshot: Pul Pervogo
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Self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has been discussing a possible attack on the Suwałki Gap, the territory of Lithuania and Poland located between Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast.

Source: European Pravda; an excerpt from a conversation between Lukashenko and Alexander Naumenko, the commander of the North-Western Operational Command, posted by Belarusian pro-government Telegram channel Pul Pervogo

Details: In the video, Lukashenko, who is holding a white Pomeranian Spitz, asks Naumenko about the width of the Suwałki Gap, which "they [probably meaning Lithuania – ed.] are always yapping about".

"They shouldn’t be behaving like this. But now you will have to confront the Baltic republics... And you will take part of Poland," Lukashenko says upon learning the width of the Gap (42 km as the crow flies).

Lukashenko then asks the military commander whether he can hold the territory with "his troops". Naumenko assures him that "all actions have been planned, issues of combat readiness are being worked out, and personnel are being trained".

The Suwałki Gap – a land corridor between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad – is considered a very likely place of attack in the event of a potential Russian war against NATO’s eastern members.

Background: In October 2023, Pavel Muraveiko, First Deputy Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council, proposed "breaking through the gap" to Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast, causing outrage in Lithuania.

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