BY WALTER FINCH
- Russia claimed a ‘precision strike’ wiped out 80 Polish fighters in the DonbasÂ
- On same day Russia admitted taking down Polish flag from Katyn massacre siteÂ
- Poland has called on NATO to reinforce Suwalki Gap to support LithuaniaÂ
- Lithuania is enforcing a blockade on Kaliningrad that has infuriated MoscowÂ
Tensions between Russia and NATO member Poland have been cranking up to boiling point in recent days amid Russian claims that it has killed ‘up to 80 Polish mercenaries’ in missile strikes.
The reported losses come on the same day that Russia confirmed it has removed a Polish flag from a memorial commemorating the murder of thousands of Poles by the Soviet Union in 1940.
To the north, Moscow has been furious over Lithuania’s blocking of EU-sanctioned goods from reaching the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between the Baltic state and Poland.
This has prompted Poland to call on NATO to further bolster its security presence in the Suwalki Gap, the narrow corridor of territory that connects the three Baltic states to the rest of their NATO allies and separates Kaliningrad from Russian ally Belarus.
