KLUSY, Poland (Reuters) – NATO troops took part in “Tumak-22” exercises on Friday in the Suwalki corridor, a strategic area on the eastern flank of the alliance, on the border between Poland and Lithuania .
This Polish territory connects the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, to Belarus, an ally of Russia. It marks the separation between the three Baltic countries and their EU and NATO allies.
“As part of these maneuvers, there were exercises (…) based on our experience and our observation of the battlefield in Ukraine,” said Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak.
“We know what methods Russia uses and what methods (of defense) are effective.”
The exercises involved 2,000 ground and air force soldiers.
Poland has decided to strengthen its armed forces following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and plans to increase its defense budget to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
(Report Kuba Stezycki and Pawel Florkiewicz, written by Alan Charlish, French version Lina Golovnya, edited by Sophie Louet)
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