Sikorski: Russia Pulls Majority of Troops from Kaliningrad

Russia has withdrawn a significant part of its troops from the Kaliningrad region to redeploy them for other missions.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated this during the NATO summit in The Hague, according to the outlet Slawa.

According to Sikorski, the joint Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2025 military exercises, which are scheduled to take place in Belarus, have reportedly been moved deeper into the country in an effort to “reduce tensions along the borders with neighboring states.”

However, Sikorski expressed doubt about the accuracy of the information regarding the relocation of the exercises further away from the Polish border.

He also noted that the maneuvers will be conducted on a smaller scale because “Russia’s best military units are already involved in the war against Ukraine.”

“Additionally, Russia is forced to form new units along the border with Finland, which stretches its forces,” the Minister added.

The Kaliningrad region has always been a focus of particular interest for Polish intelligence.

Today, Kaliningrad is a semi-exclave of Russia—it has no land border with the main part of the country and is connected to it only by sea.

Its area is approximately 15,000 square kilometers—almost half the size of Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region.

This territory was formerly part of East Prussia and, after the end of World War II in 1945, came under Soviet control and was renamed the Kaliningrad region.

Russia has turned Kaliningrad into a well-fortified military stronghold; however, the war with Ukraine has forced it to withdraw a significant portion of its forces from the region. A reduction in the contingent was already observed in August 2024.

At that time, Raimundas Vaikšnoras, Commander of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, reported that Russia was compelled to redeploy troops from Kaliningrad to that area due to the Ukrainian advance in the Kursk region.