. The strategically important strip of land along the borders between Poland and Lithuania, the Suwałki Gap separates Belarus from Kaliningrad, the isolated Russian exclave on the Baltic coast.Polish border were"insisting on going westward"
into Warsaw's territory, and Poland has beefed up its military presence close to the border with Belarus. Polish Defense Minister, Mariusz Błaszczak, said on Thursday that the armed forces would deploy an extra 10,000 soldiers to the border. Warsaw had already announced it would send additional troops to fortify the border.
Belarus has been conducting military exercises close to the Suwałki Gap in recent days, with Minsk saying the war games pulled on experiences from Russia's war in Ukraine.in a statement on Wednesday that it was"constantly monitoring Russian and Belarusian military exercises," including their locations, scale, weapons, and objectives,"especially when the exercise is about joint Russian-Belarusian military actions against NATO.
But the U.K. ministry also previously suggested that the Kremlin was looking to Putin's personal soldiersin the wake of the mutiny. Putin has introduced a new measure which could see the Russian National Guard, also known as Rosgvardia, equipped with artillery and attack helicopters, the British ministry said earlier this month. Rosgvardia, led by Putin's former bodyguard, is not formally linked to Russia's military, and reports directly to Putin.