Lithuanian soldiers take part in an exercise with NATO troops at Pabrade training area in eastern Lithuania. The Baltic country announced Dec. 15, 2025, that it plans to build a new training area near the Suwalki Gap and expand an existing one farther west. (Keith Anderson/U.S. Army)
Lithuania plans to build a new military training area near the Suwalki Gap, a strip of land separating Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave from Kremlin ally Belarus that’s widely regarded as one of the most strategically sensitive places in Europe.
In addition to the new site near the town of Kapciamiestis, the country will also double the size of the Taurage training area in western Lithuania, national public broadcaster LRT reported Monday.
U.S. land forces have conducted rotational deployments in Lithuania since spring 2014 as part of NATO deterrence efforts, and sustained rotations of U.S. heavy battalions have been in place since 2019.
As of last month, more than 1,000 rotational American troops were deployed to Lithuania, where they operate, train and take part in joint NATO exercises, according to the Army.
Western military officials have long assessed that in a conflict, Moscow could attempt to link Kaliningrad with Belarus, severing the Baltic states from NATO’s main forces.
“Lithuania is strengthening its national defense with plans for new and expanded military training ranges, boosting NATO’s rapid response capabilities and securing the strategically crucial Suwalki Corridor,” the Lithuanian defense ministry said in a statement Monday on X.
Lithuania’s defense ministry announced Dec. 15, 2025, that the Baltic country plans to build a new military training area in Kapciamiestis, near the Suwalki Gap, and expand its Taurage training area. (X/Lithuanian defense ministry)
The roughly 40-mile stretch of territory along Lithuania’s border with Poland is the only overland route connecting Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to the rest of the alliance.
Amid heightened tensions between NATO and Russia over the war in Ukraine, Deividas Matulionis, chief national security adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, said the Suwalki Gap is receiving “special attention” from the alliance.
“The chosen site is the most suitable from both a military and national security perspective,” Matulionis said of the Kapciamiestis location, as reported by LRT. “These training areas are vital for ensuring conditions for the largest possible presence of allied forces in Lithuania.”
The new training area will be large enough to support brigade-level training involving several thousand troops, LRT said.
In March, four U.S. soldiers died during an exercise at a military training area in eastern Lithuania near the Belarus border. Their M88A2 Hercules armored recovery vehicle became submerged in swampy terrain.
After a nearly weeklong search and recovery operation involving U.S., Lithuanian and allied forces, the soldiers were found dead.
Lithuania has yet to announce when development work at Kapciamiestis will begin or is expected to finish. Initial estimates put the construction time at four years, the Baltic Times reported in September.
Monday’s announcement comes as Lithuania works to establish a full army division for the first time in its modern history, driven by growing numbers of conscripts and reservists. Germany has also pledged to deploy a brigade of several thousand troops to the country by 2027.