Poland's citizens ask about bunkers: unease grows in the "Suwalki Gap"

Kybartai/Gizycko/Madrid - At around seven in the evening, the train from Kaliningrad to Moscow arrives at the provincial station in Kybartai. The silver-grey carriages with the red logo of Russian Railways RZD gleam in the evening sun.

In the sleeping cars, passengers loll on their beds, some looking out of the window. They are not allowed to get out. This is because Kybartai is located in Lithuania, an EU and NATO country that the train has to pass through on its almost 19-hour journey from the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad to Moscow. Lithuania allows transit without a Schengen visa - on the condition that no one leaves the train.

A dispute between the Baltic republic and Russia has brought worldwide attention to Kybartai station. The most important railroad line connecting Kaliningrad with the heart of Russia runs through here. And ever since Lithuania stopped the transit of goods on the EU sanctions list, the threats from Moscow have been unrelenting.

The Kremlin is threatening "practical" countermeasures and questioning Lithuania's state border. Russian talk shows are calling for the conquest of a "corridor" to Kaliningrad.

This hits a sensitive nerve in the border region. NATO has been using the term "Suwalki Gap" for years. This is a corridor on Polish and Lithuanian territory between Belarus and Kaliningrad.

By taking it, Russia could cut off the Baltic states from the other NATO countries. The corridor was named after the Polish town of Suwalki.

Russia accuses Lithuania of blocking transit. However, only certain goods are affected, such as cement, building materials and metals. While the border guards at Kybartai station check the passengers on the train from Kaliningrad, endless Russian freight trains roll past.

"Compared to last year, freight traffic has fallen by around half," says station manager Saulius Baikstys (51). He is not afraid of a Russian invasion. "Lithuania and Poland are in Nato after all."

Politico magazine has described the Suwalki Gap as the "most dangerous place in the world ". This is because Nato troops could meet Russia's army here, even if everything seems peaceful on the Polish side at the moment.

Tree-lined avenues wind through the hilly landscape of former East Prussia, tourists bathe in one of the many lakes, storks sit on their nests.

But the unease is growing here too. "We have a historical awareness: In the event of Russian aggression, we would be the first," says Daniel Domoradzki (33), head of the citizens' initiative "Active Masuria". Inspired by inquiries from frightened citizens, the initiative launched a survey of a dozen municipalities in the region to find out what the situation was with bunkers and civil defense.

Everywhere the answer was similar to that of the town of Gizycko (Lötzen): "There are no shelters on the territory of the municipality." Yet eleven underground bunkers from the Second World War are still preserved in Gizycko, says city councillor Pawel Andruszkiewicz. "But they have either been filled in or built on top of.

The concerns of Poland and the Baltic states are also taken very seriously by the NATO partners. At their summit in Madrid, they decided to increase the presence of troops on the eastern flank of the alliance. US troops are to be permanently stationed in Poland, announced US President Joe Biden (79).

Germany is the lead nation for the NATO deployment in Lithuania. There are currently more than a thousand men and women of the German Armed Forces with tanks, howitzers and air defense as part of a NATO eFP battle group in the country.

Now an entire combat brigade - possibly a total of 4500 soldiers - is also to be tasked with the defense. The command element as well as weapons, ammunition and equipment will then be in Lithuania and the soldiers will be ready for deployment in Germany for exercises and in the event of an emergency.

The presence of land forces is a key factor in deterring Russia, said Lieutenant General Bernd Schütt, Commander of the Bundeswehr Operational Command, recently. "In the area of the Suwalki Gap, it is only a short jump, and the danger of testing NATO's will and ability to defend itself is relatively high there. Troops can be deployed relatively quickly in this area and then a first strike can be carried out using airborne troops, for example," said Schütt.

"In Putin's rationale: maybe he thinks Nato won't come."

An aggressor has many opportunities for provocations and testing the enemy. They range from violations of airspace, minor incidents along the border, the additional deployment of weapons systems to large-scale military maneuvers, such as before the invasion of Ukraine. There is no evidence of preparations for an attack.

However, practically every form of conflict with Russia is now part of the trial of strength. If you include the dispute over the transit of goods, the EU does not present the best picture at this point, especially if it now has to row back.

It is up to the EU to set the necessary framework conditions, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64) in Madrid at the end of the NATO summit. The rules should "of course always be set in the light of the fact that we are dealing here with traffic between two parts of Russia", said the SPD politician.

All those involved are currently making great efforts to "establish a de-escalation dynamic here".