Russian sources have voiced concerns over recent Polish military exercises near the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad region, alleging that the drills were rehearsals for an attack on the enclave.
According to Ilya Tumanov, a prominent figure in the Russian military aviation community and administrator of the ‘Fighterbomber’ channel, Polish fighter jets conducted operations along the border with Kaliningrad, working in coordination with ground units.
“They made six attack runs. In the final run, they turned around 40 kilometers from the state border,” Tumanov wrote, providing a screenshot from a radar system as evidence.
Since 2016, Russia has significantly bolstered its military presence in Kaliningrad by deploying troops, modern weaponry, and forming the 11th Army Corps. The Kremlin even stationed operational-tactical missile complexes “Iskander” in Kaliningrad, capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The military grouping in Kaliningrad was further reinforced with the Bastion coastal missile system.
The heightened militarization of Kaliningrad has given the Kremlin the potential to seize a portion of Poland’s Suwalki Corridor, a strip of land less than 80 kilometers long that separates Belarus from Kaliningrad.
At present, there have been no official confirmations of these activities from either Russia or Poland, nor any official reactions from either government.
Kaliningrad, formerly known as Königsberg, was annexed by the Soviet Union after World War II as part of East Prussia. The Soviet Union also acquired Memel (now Klaipėda in Lithuania), while Poland gained Danzig (now Gdańsk).
The border between Poland and Russia’s Kaliningrad region stretches for approximately 200 kilometers. The recent tensions are further compounded by a decision from Warsaw’s Committee on Standardization of Geographical Names, which recommended using only the Polish name “Królewiec” for the city known in Russia as Kaliningrad—a name adopted in honor of Soviet leader Mikhail Kalinin.