NEWSWATCH Christian Science Monitor: Amid Kremlin-NATO tensions, what mood in Russia’s European ‘spearhead’? The Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad is home to a major naval base that weighs heavily in both Russian and Western military thinking
The Christian Science Monitor reports on Russia’s Baltic enclave Kaliningrad in the midst of stepped-up Russian and NATO military activity.
If the tensions between Russia and the West should escalate into full-fledged confrontation, it is this former Prussian town – home to a huge military base in the heart of NATO country – that is going to be right at the center of things.
… at the westernmost point of the Connecticut-sized enclave of Kaliningrad, the port bristles with warships, the streets are filled with uniforms, and there is a constant stream of naval vessels in the channel, heading out to sea to conduct patrols or war games.
… unseen just over the horizon, the Russian navy is conducting major anti-submarine exercises in the Baltic Sea, the latest in a year-long series of war games designed to display Russia’s defiance in the face of Western sanctions and political pressure, as well as its military readiness if worst comes to worst.