Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė responded to Russia’s construction of the monitoring site in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave which would be at the center of hostilities should any conflict between Moscow and NATO break out.
Investigative project Tochnyi reported in August that Russia’s development of the site had been proceeding quickly near the Baltic Sea, which has been dubbed a NATO lake following the alliance’s expansion to include Finland and Sweden.
But Šakalienė told the Baltic News Service (BNS) on Monday “it is not intended for espionage.”
Newsweek has contacted Tochnyi and the Lithuanian Defense Ministry for comment.
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Why It Matters
Tensions between Moscow and NATO have been increasing as the alliance’s eastern flank members have warned that Russia has its sights on attacking Europe after Ukraine.
The construction of a potential spying facility in Kaliningrad, wedged between Poland and Lithuania, is significant given that it hosts S-400 air defense systems, Iskander ballistic missile units, and naval assets of the Baltic Fleet.
What To Know
Tochnyi, an OSINT (open source intelligence) project which reports on the Russia-Ukraine war, said that construction was near completion on the facility in the Chernyakhovsky district of the Kaliningrad region, just south of an air base used by the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet.
The outlet said last month that the site, the construction of which started in March 2023, had developed into a “military-grade antenna array designed for radio intelligence or communication.”
Newsweek has shared images captured by the ESA’s Sentinel-2 satellites from March 2023 and August 2025 that illustrate the extent of the site’s development.
The antenna array could span up to 1,600 meters (over 5,200 feet) in diameter, analysis of the satellite imagery shows, placing it “well above the size range of known CDAAs (Circularly Disposed Antenna Array)” Tochnyi said last month.
This system which is based on Cold War-era technology allows for ultra-long-range interception and direction finding of radio signals thousands of miles away, according to military website Army Recognition.
Unlike radar facilities that require large protective domes, this complex has open-air antenna fields optimized for broad-spectrum signals intelligence and the Kaliningrad array surpasses many examples, including those in Germany and Japan, the outlet added.
But Šakalienė told BNS that the site in Kaliningrad would increase Moscow’s ability to monitor distant targets but did not pose an immediate threat. She added the facility had been “under construction for several years” and was not intended for espionage, but to detect aircraft and missiles several thousand kilometers away.
What People Are Saying
Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė, per BNS: “This is a facility that has been under construction for several years—a radar station, elements of which are being built in several locations in the exclave.”
She added it was “not intended for espionage, but to detect aircraft and missiles in airspace several thousand kilometers away.”
What Happens Next
NATO’s Baltic states and other alliance members continue to warn about the threat posed by Russia, given the huge increase recently in Moscow’s military spending.
Army Recognition said that the Kaliningrad development signals Moscow’s preparations for a broader confrontation and will be used for long-term monitoring and disruption of NATO communications in any escalation.
