DISINFO: NATO breakthrough formations in Poland and Lithuania aimed at Kaliningrad
SUMMARY
NATO will concentrate its striking forces against the Kaliningrad enclave.
There are talks about the redeployment of 35.000 German troops to Poland to the borders with Russia and Belarus close to the Kaliningrad region. In addition, American forces are already present in Poland, and a German armoured brigade is being formed in Lithuania. These formations can be perceived as the first-line breakthrough troops.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative on Western attempts to encircle Russia, Western belligerence and Western aggression against Kaliningrad.
Western leaders have repeatedly said that NATO does not plan to attack Russia. US President Joe Biden, speaking in Warsaw in February 2023, addressed Russian citizens, assuring them that the US does not seek to destroy or control Russia. French President Macron stated in February 2023 that ‘Russia must be defeated but not crushed.’
NATO made a decision to deploy Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) forces in the Baltic states and Poland during the NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016. The purpose of the deployment was “demonstrating the strength of the transatlantic bond, and making clear that an attack on one Ally would be considered an attack on the whole Alliance”. The decision followed Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
See previous examples of disinformation messages alleging that the Kaliningrad exclave is threatened by NATO; The US plans to take over the Kaliningrad region and the Aim of NATO’s exercise: prepare for the annexation of Russia’s Kaliningrad region.