Baltic States The Rush West

Baltic States: The Rush West

REPORT – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. Apart from what differentiates them, like language or religion, they have more in common than anything else: shared borders with Russia and the painful memory of the Soviet occupation. Hence the panic fear of a Ukrainian scenario…

DAY 1

Lithuania, Curonian Spit: Russian Ghost and Prussian Ghosts

Geographers call it the Curonian Spit or Curonian Spit. It is a strip of land, or rather sand, stuck in the Baltic Sea and stretching for 98 kilometers, with its width never exceeding 4 kilometers. In addition to the dunes, which locals describe as the highest in Europe – some reaching a height of 60 meters – the isthmus has the peculiarity of being shared: to the north-east, 52 kilometers under Lithuanian sovereignty; in the southwest, 46 kilometers belong to the Kaliningrad Oblast and thus to the Russian Federation. The invasion of Ukraine, which has raised fears of annexation, is therefore a potentially explosive and conflict-ridden border. It is already under strict surveillance, explains Tomas Kontrimas, deputy commander of the Lithuanian border guards, at the head of 120 officers: “There is only one land crossing, but it is closed. Our…

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