The presidents of Poland and Lithuania planned to meet NATO troops on both sides of their border Thursday to demonstrate the alliance's defense readiness at a location regarded as a strategically important bottleneck.
The 70-kilometer (43-mile) Suwalki Gap is wedged between Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, a Russia ally. It also links Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to other NATO members and has drawn special attention during Russia's war in Ukraine since several NATO nations border Ukraine.
Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, accompanied by their countries' defense ministers, planned to observe an exercise in Szypliszki, Poland, by a mobile command unit of the U.S.-led Multinational Division North East.
The two are then scheduled to travel to Mariampoli, Lithuania, to meet a German-led logistical battalion.
At the urging of Poland and the Baltic states, NATO leaders decided at a summit last week in Madrid to significantly increased the number of troops in Eastern Europe. Battalions numbering hundreds of troops are to be made into brigades with thousands of troops.