Another Potential Flashpoint in the Suwalki Corridor – Opening of First Section of Vistula Canal

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 28 – On September 17, Poland announced the completion of the first section of its Vistula Canal through the Vistula spit. Warsaw declared that this move will help Poland escape from Russian influence, but Russian commentators have played down that possibility.

            Indeed, in the most extensive commentary so far, Moscow analyst Anatoly Kornelyuk says that it will take centuries for the canal to show a profit commercially and won’t have much of an impact geopolitically either (ritmeurasia.org/news--2022-09-28--vislinskij-kanal-kak-prolog-k-remejku-vesterplatte-62235).

            But he does mention that Moscow views this new development as something that only heightens its concerns about the Suwalki Corridor which it adjoins. And that in turn means that Western analysts of Russian intentions need to focus on this canal and its implications for what the Russian authorities might do in the region in the event of a crisis.