The Strategic Relevance of Kaliningrad, usni.org

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Paolo Pizzolo, assistant professor and postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for International Studies and Development of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Situated between Poland and Lithuania, both members of the European Union and NATO, Kaliningrad Oblast is a Russian exclave on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, as well as the westernmost region of the Russian Federation. The oblast covers approximately 5,800 square miles, with a population of around one million, and its capital is the city of Kaliningrad. As an exclave, the territory shares no borders with mainland Russia and receives much of its supplies by rail via Belarus and Lithuania, although a sea route of some 600 miles connects its port to that of St. Petersburg through international waters. Kaliningrad enjoys the only Russian port free from ice year round, hosting the Baltic Fleet.

Positioned on the southern Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad is both an opportunity and a challenge for Russia. Its long-range missile capabilities could deny NATO access to the northern Baltic and its regional allies, but sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania and far from the Russian mainland, the exclave also would be hard to defend.Läs artikel

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