Lithuania and Poland plan Suwałki Gap evacuation route for Baltic civilians

As Lithuania holds a national mobilisation exercise, it is working with Poland on plans to evacuate Baltic civilians into Poland through the Suwałki Gap in case of an attack or major crisis.

Lithuania and Poland are preparing joint plans to evacuate civilians from the Baltic states into Poland in the event of an attack or major crisis, according to Polish broadcaster TVP. The plans could also cover residents of Latvia and Estonia.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, said the two countries were jointly examining procedures, logistics and infrastructure capacity, stressing that the Suwałki Gap between Russia’s Kaliningrad region and Belarus “is of huge importance, both militarily and logistically.” The work is part of the “Vyčio Skliautas 2026” exercise, which involves some 3,000 officials and 1,000 volunteers until October 3.