OPINION:
Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe, said Wednesday that Russia has the capability to block NATO forces from the Baltic Sea during a conflict. He made those comments while speaking at the Pentagon and was specifically referring to Russian forces located in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave in the Baltics.
There is a “significant amount of capability” in Kaliningrad, including anti-ship weapons, air defenses, and electronic warfare equipment,” Defense One reported on his comments. “They could make it very difficult for any of us to get up into the Baltic Sea if we needed to in a contingency. We have seen them do exercises where … there’s a nuclear strike,” Commander Hodges said. “They don’t [say] gray land, and silver land, or red land, or stuff like that. They say ’NATO is the adversary’ when they do their exercises. I mean, they’re pretty blunt about that…You can understand why our allies on the eastern flank of NATO, particularly in the Baltic region are nervous, are uneasy.”
Kaliningrad is one of the most heavily weaponized regions of Europe and is a strategic outpost for the Russian navy and supports Russian air forces as well. Earlier in 2015, Russia threatened a “nuclear” response to Danish naval forces in the Baltic Sea if they participated in NATO operations. These comments and the behavior of Russian forces in the area have caused great concern among the the Baltic states and other Western nations in the area.
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