- Finland’s NATO membership will significantly expand the borders of the alliance with Russia.
- Finland also extends NATO borders along the Baltic Sea, which has been called “NATO Lake”.
- This further isolates Russia’s Kaliningrad region, which is surrounded by NATO members.
On April 4, Finland officially Joining NATObecoming the 31st member of the Alliance.
Finland’s addition expands NATO’s border with Russia from 754 miles to 1,584 miles, moves alliance territory closer to major Russian cities and military bases, and further isolates Kaliningrad, an important Russian enclave in the Baltic Sea. To do.
Covering an area twice the size of Rhode Island, Kaliningrad sits between Poland and Lithuania and is home to the Port of Baltiysk, Russia’s only Baltic port that remains ice-free in the winter.
Kaliningrad also borders the Suwalki Gap, an important 60-mile corridor that connects Poland and the Baltics. The Swarki Gap is widely considered vulnerable to NATO, Target early In conflict with Russia.
Kaliningrad is a major military outpost housing Russia’s Baltic Fleet and other forces, and has been dubbed an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” that allows Moscow to project power deep into NATO and EU territories. I came.
assets and vulnerabilities
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Navy Day celebration in Baltiysk, Kaliningrad, July 2015.
REUTERS/RIA Novosti/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin
In recent years, Russia has modernized and built up its military in Kaliningrad.region further enhanced The brigade guarded it before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and was upgraded to a division in 2020.However, some Baltic Fleet units Relocated to Ukraine They reportedly suffered very high casualties.
The Russian Baltic Fleet is based in Baltiysk and consists mainly of warships, including corvettes and numerous support ships, infantry, armored, aviation and air defense forces.Russia is also a store tactical nuclear weapon Kaliningrad and carried out Tactical and conventional missile strike exercises from the region.
“Kaliningrad is like a fortress located in the Baltic Sea, with many cruise missiles and other weapons, and it can still be argued that it is a threat. recent episodes of the CNA talk podcast.
Kaliningrad’s strategically important location means Russian forces could threaten neighboring NATO countries, but the region is also vulnerable to Russia, said a researcher also at the Center for Naval Analysis. Dmitri Gorenberg said on the podcast.
A Russian Territory sign next to the Lithuanian border fence near Zelzyny, Poland, on the western edge of the Suwalki Gorge, October 2022.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Kaliningrad is surrounded by NATO member states, making it easier to cut off from mainland Russia in the event of a conflict. To the north is Lithuania and its Baltic neighbors, which have small armed forces and are likely to focus on defensive operations in a war with Russia, while Poland to the south has the alliance’s strongest armed forces. There is one in the army.
One of Russia’s most important port cities, St. Petersburg is connected to the Baltic Sea through the Gulf of Finland, a narrow channel that borders Finland to the north and Estonia to the south.
Finland’s endorsement, which has substantial military assets, makes the gulf a chokepoint in the conflict, restricting Russian maritime transport and complicating efforts to resupply or reinforce Kaliningrad by sea.
The possibility of Sweden joining NATO would further isolate Kaliningrad and reinforce the perception of the Baltic Sea as being called a “NATO lake”.
The addition of Sweden and Finland “will create a dilemma that Russia does not have now as it sails from St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. So it will be an advantage,” Europe told US lawmakers last year. .
A girl rides a scooter on the river Pregoria in Kaliningrad, June 2022.
Reuters/Vitaly Nevar
NATO’s control of the Denmark Strait, which connects the Baltic and Atlantic Oceans and borders Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, would allow the alliance to further restrict the movement of Russia’s Baltic Fleet.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “we find ourselves in a situation where the Russian Baltic Fleet could very easily be contained in much the same way that the closure of the Bosporus Strait contained the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” Gollenberg said. said. on a podcast.
NATO’s control of the Baltic Sea will also make it much more difficult for Russia’s powerful Northern Fleet, based on the Arctic Kola Peninsula, to sail to aid Kaliningrad. Attack on NATO forces.
Russia and NATO are well aware of Kaliningrad’s vulnerability, and both sides describe the enclave as “like the Alamo, a little more vulnerable than the impregnable fortress in the Baltic Sea that some argue. “I believe.
Constantine Atlamazoglou works on transatlantic and European security. He holds a master’s degree in security studies and European affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.you can contact him LinkedIn.