Poland - Lithuania
In April 2026 I planned to visit some parts of the border between Romanina and Ukraine west of Suceava. Eef would join me. We booked a flight, a car at the airport and a hotel in the mountains. I asked and got permission from the Romanian border police to visit the border zone and to take pictures. Two weeks before the expedition would start, Wizzair cancelled the flight to Suceava. There was no alternative unless we wanted to stay for 6 days which was too long so we had to cancel everything. We decided to visit another border.
Poland - Lithuania, the 'Suwałki Corridor' was on my list for a long time. It covers the small EU/NATO-part between Belarus and Kaliningrad which is part of the russian federation.
From a historical ponit of view, this is an interesting border: it's the only outer border of the Sovjet Union which is now an internal Schengen border, with both countries part of the EU and the NATO. The Lithuanian side of the border however still has many Soviet-border characteristics.
We found a flight to Vilnius and back, booked a car and a hotel in Marijampolė. As this is a Schengen border, permissions or an announcement of our visit were not needed, I assumed.

Our first three days trip started at the tipont with Belarus, which was easy to reach from Lithuanian side. Although the fences and barbed wire stopped us about 40 meters from the real border in the river. We expected a more restricted access but the fences do their work: it's impossible to cross the border here.

Most of the border markers we approached from the Lithuanian side. Along the whole border there are former inspection roads, which stem from the Soviet time. They are accessible now and most of them are even maintained. We faced however unexpected problems on Polish side. Poland re-introduced border control to restrain illegal immigration mainly form Belarus. Some people achieve to pass the iron walls. Every border crossing -even the smallest sand roads in the woods- is now permanently manned. The border guards were not prepared to our presence in the border area, which lead to mixed reactions and a lot of hassle. In some cases the forbad us to take pictures of the border markers. Most of them didn't speak English, or only very poor. When their superiors were informed and arrived to intervene, we could explain our intentions and then the case was solved in a few seconds: we could picture the border markers but not the border crossings. No problem, we're used to that.

Border area
About 200 to 500 meters from the border on the Lithuanian side, a former inspection road for border guards runs along the entire border as this was an outer border of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet era, this was a the edge of a forbidden area, a no-go zone. No buildings, no farmland, just forest. Although the Soviet era is long behind us, not everything has changed. The inspection roads are still there but they are now accessible. Even now there are no buildings or agriculture, and the strip between the inspection road and the border is still forest. The inspection road was part of one very long inspection road between Belarus and Poland, between Lithuania and Poland, and between Kaliningrad and Poland. In Belarus and Kaliningrad, these roads are still in use as such. This is very clearly visible on maps and aerial photographs.
The inspection roads are part of the Soviet 'Systema' and aimed at preventing the crossing of the State border:
- classic iron curtain fencing: a 2 meter high wooden fence with many layers of barbed wire, sometimes with a high voltage on he wires, a zone of 200 to 500 meters with woods,
- another inspection road close to the border. Sometimes foreseen with trafic signs (announcement of curves) to facilitate fast movements by jeep, usually a 'Hunter',
- the empty and bold border strip.
The presence of these outer inspection road makes it rather easy to reach the border markers. Sometimes the inner road is accesible, but most of the times this is now a sand path no longer suitable for cars.
On Polish side the situation is different: no forbidden zone, rarely inspection roads. Sometimes woods, but also meadows and fields. But no villages very close to the border. During the final demarcation this was avoided.

The border
The current border was established in the aftermath of World War II. The border has since remained identical during the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states as well as after the restoration of the independence of Lithuania on 11 March 1990.
On 5 March 1996, both countries signed a treaty on the common border, confirming its status and demarcation, as well as agreeing on the technical cooperation.

The border markers
See the next page for some more information and details.

Pictures:
Tripoint BY-PL-LT: August 2015, May 2026,
PL-LT 001 -> 093: May 2026.