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UPDATE: Polish president says Suwałki Gap guarded by NATO at all times

07.07.2022 22:55
Poland’s president has said that NATO troops guard the Suwałki Gap, a strategic stretch of land near Russia’s westernmost region of Kaliningrad, 24 hours a day, every day.
Polish President Andrzej Duda (left) and Lithuanias Gitanas Nausda (right) meet reporters at the headquarters of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytenis General Support Battalion in Marijampol, southern Lithuania, on Thursday, July 7, 2022.
Polish President Andrzej Duda (left) and Lithuania's Gitanas Nausėda (right) meet reporters at the headquarters of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytenis General Support Battalion in Marijampolė, southern Lithuania, on Thursday, July 7, 2022.PAP/Artur Reszko

Andrzej Duda made the remark in Marijampolė, southern Lithuania, on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

There, on the Lithuanian side of the Suwałki Gap, the Polish president met with his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nausėda.

The two heads of state visited the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytenis General Support Battalion. 

At a joint news conference afterwards, Duda said that the Suwałki Gap was of “strategic importance.”

“Both to its right and to its left, we have borders with countries that are not part of the European Union,” he told reporters.

“On one side we have Belarus, on the other, Russia, namely the Kaliningrad region,” Duda said. 

Suwałki Gap guarded '24 hours a day, every day'

Duda told reporters that the Suwałki Gap was being guarded by Polish, Lithuanian and NATO troops “set on high readiness 24 hours a day, every day.”

He added: “This land is being guarded by the strongest defensive alliance in the world. Together with President Nausėda, we would like to underline that this land is secure.”

Earlier in the day, the two presidents met on the Polish side of the Suwałki Gap, in the village of Szypliszki near the northeastern Polish city of Suwałki. 

They held talks at a mobile command post of the NATO Multinational Division North East (MND-NE), the PAP news agency reported.

Duda said: “Together with President Nausėda, we decided to visit the Suwałki Gap, both on the Polish and Lithuanian side, to show that it is secure.”

The Suwałki Gap is nestled between northeastern Poland and southern Lithuania. It is flanked on either side by Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad exclave. 

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last month that Poland and the Baltic states wanted to see a stronger NATO defensive presence in the area. 

According to the politico.eu website, “in a showdown between Russia and NATO," the Suwałki Gap "would likely be the first point of contact.”

Thursday was day 134 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAPtvpparlament.pl