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From: pjt@niksula.hut.fi (Pekka J Taipale)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Aside to Lithuania
Message-ID: <15501@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 12 Apr 90 00:56:02 GMT
References: <15384@cbnews.ATT.COM> <15449@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
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From: pjt@niksula.hut.fi (Pekka J Taipale)
In article <15449@cbnews.ATT.COM> mr10+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Reed) writes:

>One of the interesting geopolitical/strategic points which noone seems
>to have realized is that, should Lithuania actually [be allowed to]
>secede, a chunk of territory between Poland and Lithuania which is
>actually part of the Republic of Russia (!) will be isolated from the
>Soviet Union (!!).  Its name escapes me at the moment, but the only
>Poland and Lithuania are its only neighbors.

This chunk of territory is called Kaliningrad, which was part of
Germany before the WWII.

Russia has very few round-the-year-open sea harbors - Kaliningrad,
Leningrad, Murmansk and Vladivostok - so the strategic importance of
Kaliningrad is very high. I think the whole area is basically a
military base.  They have missiles, a huge naval base, etc.

The existence of Kaliningrad is one of the factors that make it so
hard for the USSR to allow Lithuania to secede. 

--
Pekka Taipale -- pjt@niksula.hut.fi