Why Europe is scared of Russia? Kaliningrad is close to Europe “natural buffer zone” of Russia

The enclave of Kaliningrad in the Russian west has a unique position as a “natural buffer zone” close to Europe and provides Russia with an opportunity to scare Europe, but Moscow may face difficulties in exploiting it in the event of a war with its neighbors or NATO, according to an analysis by the Economist magazine .

The Kaliningrad enclave is a Russian region lying between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea, two countries in the European Union. Unlike many Russian regions, it is a year-round ice-free region and home to Moscow’s Baltic Fleet.

Russia has long used this isolated enclave to threaten Europe, and last month, Moscow announced that the Russian military in Kaliningrad simulated the launch of nuclear missiles at imagined hostile sites in Europe.

Sweden fears a Russian naval attack from Kaliningrad on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, and NATO fears that Russia will invade Poland and Lithuania to create a land corridor from those lands to Belarus.

Jonas Kjellén , a Military Analyst at Swedish Defence Research Agency FOI, a Swedish government defense research agency, says Kaliningrad is a “natural buffer zone” that provides Russia’s first line of defense from the west.

The region is littered with radar systems that provide air surveillance of central Europe and is also equipped with the Russian S-400 and even S-500 Prometheus missile defense system and short-range NK720 Iskander missiles, which puts nuclear warheads “uncomfortably close” to European cities.

The Kremlin claimed that this step was necessary to counter the growing US military presence in the region.

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After sending his forces into Ukraine in late February, Russian President Vladimir Putin made almost explicit threats about his willingness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons.

It is widely believed that the Kaliningrad enclave already contains Russian nuclear weapons.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, the former Russian president, had threatened weeks ago to deploy “large naval forces in the Gulf of Finland,” and said, “There can be no more talk about a non-nuclear status of the Baltic Sea,” in an explicit threat to deploy weapons [by nuclear power in the region].

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But in the event of a war, according to The Economist , the region’s location near the “NATO” countries would leave little room for Russian forces to disperse.

It would also be difficult to resupply Kaliningrad, and the region is filled with more Western intelligence agents than anywhere else, according to Michael Kaufman, director of the Russian Studies Program at CNA.

If Sweden and Finland join NATO , then the Kaliningrad enclave itself will be surrounded by NATO members from many sides.

This could become the “closest point of interaction” between NATO forces and Russia, Keelen notes. He believes that “if there is an accident (between NATO and Russia), it will most likely be in the Baltic Sea.”

The report also points to economic problems suffered by the residents of this isolated enclave due to the lack of financial support and investment.