After inspecting Chukotka, Russia's "Far East," earlier this month, Putin recently went to Kaliningrad, Russia's "Far East."
The Kremlin recently announced that President Putin had flown from Moscow to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania, by special plane to carry out a series of inspection activities.
[President Putin has arrived in Kaliningrad]
And although the Kremlin claimed that Putin's trip was a "plan that was set a long time ago", the day before he flew to Kaliningrad on a special plane, NATO's "Steadfast Defender 2024" military exercise was officially launched. More than 90,000 people from the 31 member states and Sweden, which is preparing to join the treaty, will take part in the exercise. Such a coincidence has to be reminiscent.
It is worth mentioning that the route of Putin's flight this time is also particularly interesting, his Il-96 plane did not follow the traditional route of Belarus, but went all the way south from the direction of St. Petersburg, flew over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and finally arrived in Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad, Russia's enclave in Eastern Europe and Russia's "Far West", is known as the "dagger in the heart of Europe" and can reach the rear of NATO. In Soviet times, it was a shield against the Soviet Union, and now it is at the forefront of Russia's confrontation with Europe.
[Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave in Eastern Europe, is also the "land of the far west"]
Kaliningrad covers an area of only 15,000 square kilometers, which is smaller than the size of Beijing, but it is home to four divisions of the Russian army with more than 50,000 troops.
What is the concept of 50,000 people? The three Baltic countries, Lithuania has 20,000 troops, Latvia 6,200, and Estonia 4,000, and the combined strength of the three countries is just over 30,000. As a result, Kaliningrad is also considered one of the most militarily protected territories in the world.
In addition, the headquarters of the Russian Baltic Fleet is also located in Kaliningrad, and all kinds of anti-aircraft and ballistic missiles are innumerable, and the "Iskander" missiles deployed there by Russia can carry nuclear warheads if necessary, and the range can completely cover Berlin, which is 500 kilometers away.
[The "Iskander" missiles deployed there by Russia have a range that can cover Berlin]
What is the concept of 500 kilometers? In the Russian context, this is the straight-line distance between the Russian-Ukrainian border and Moscow, and Ukrainian missiles can reach Moscow within five minutes, so Russia cannot allow Ukraine to join NATO.
On the day of Russia's "Victory Day" in 2022, Russian official television released a video simulating a Russian nuclear strike on Europe, in which the "Sarmat" missile launched from Kaliningrad could arrive in Berlin in the 106th second, Paris in the 200th second, and London in the 202nd second - a naked "nuclear stick" show.
It can be seen from this that when NATO's 90,000 people gathered in Europe, Putin's choice to visit Kaliningrad may not be a coincidence, but "needle-to-wheat."
The 90,000 participants in the joint Defenders 2024 exercise is the largest NATO exercise since the Cold War and will continue until May of this year — the last time NATO held such a large-scale military exercise was in 1988, before the Soviet Union collapsed. NATO said it would have more than 50 ships, including aircraft carriers, more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones, and more than 1,100 combat vehicles of various types.
[The "Steadfast Defender 2024" joint military exercise is the largest military exercise held by NATO since the Cold War]
On top of that, although NATO said that the purpose of the exercise was only to "deal with an imaginary enemy of comparable strength," everyone knew that the imaginary enemy was Russia. In its statement, NATO made it clear that the exercises will demonstrate that NATO "is capable of carrying out complex military operations across thousands of kilometers under any conditions" and that NATO "is capable of defending all territories, from the Arctic region to the border with Russia."
In fact, one of NATO's scheduled exercises is the Suwałki Corridor, which is located in the middle of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Kaliningrad.
This narrow strip of border, which is about 100 kilometers long, has been called "the most vulnerable place in Europe". A report by the RAND Corporation of the United States pointed out that once Russia and NATO go to war in an all-out manner, the first place that Russia will take is the Suwałki corridor, cutting off land links between the three Baltic countries and other NATO countries.
The Suwałki Corridor has been called "the most vulnerable place in Europe"]
It can be said that NATO has made its cards clear, and the next thing is to see how Russia makes a move. Putin's visit to Kaliningrad may be only the first step, but whether it will become the last step depends on whether Moscow can allocate enough energy in the future.
Because in fact, Russia is not only facing NATO's largest military exercise in more than 30 years, but also facing a NATO that is about to expand again - after Turkey relented, Hungary also expressed "support for Sweden's accession". It can be said that Sweden's accession to NATO is now only one step in the way.
Some people may remember that after Finland joined NATO last year, Russia made it clear that "Russia will take countermeasures", but in the end, it was not resolved, and it is not known where Russia's "countermeasures" were. Similarly, after Sweden joins NATO, the Baltic Sea will further become a "NATO sea", and Russia will certainly react on the surface, but whether it can actually come up with countermeasures is another matter.
As for Russia, their priority now is to deal with the Ukrainian issue. If they can't win on the battlefield of Ukraine, then it's better for them not to think about a head-on confrontation with NATO. If you want too much, you will end up with nothing.