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Polish, Lithuanian leaders to meet at Suwałki Gap

07.07.2022 07:00
Poland’s president and defence minister are set to hold talks on Thursday with their Lithuanian counterparts at the Suwałki Gap, a strategic stretch of land near Russia’s westernmost region of Kaliningrad.
Polish soldiers in Szypliszki, Suwałki Gap, northeastern Poland.
Polish soldiers in Szypliszki, Suwałki Gap, northeastern Poland.PAP/Artur Reszko

President Andrzej Duda and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak will meet with Lithuania’s Gitanas Nausėda and Arvydas Anušauskas in the Polish village of Szypliszki, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.

The Polish and Lithuanian leaders are due to convene at a mobile command post of the NATO Multinational Division North East (MND-NE), officials said.

Later in the day, Duda and Nausėda are scheduled to visit the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytenis General Support Battalion in Marijampolė in the south of Lithuania.

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 is day 134 of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, politico.eu