#mediapart

Lithuania, 2015. Last pictures from Lithuania conscription day, the battle of Kalkiske, and a joint US-Lithuanian army practice.

In 2015 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon #lithuania #army #soldiers
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbXPE4yMB47/?utm_medium=tumblr

2015, Kaliningrad Street impressions. Billboards with military advertising were all over the streets.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon #soldiers
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbUkbYwspW1/?utm_medium=tumblr

2015, Kaliningrad Street impressions. Billboards with military advertising were all over the streets.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbUjjdtMM2k/?utm_medium=tumblr

Lithuania, 2015. People in Lithuania. In general the woman were more afraid of a possible war with russia. Whereas the man were proud to be able to defend his country. I could not help myself thinking that these very young man maybe have a false image of war coming from Playstation games.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #lithuania #russia #prixchaffajon

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbKKI4zs4Qp/?utm_medium=tumblr

Lithuania, 2015. Viktoria, 24, a student and employee of Lake campground Vystitis. In general the woman and young girls we met were afraid and the young man wanted to fight. Lake of Vystitis is a well known recreation place with a few camping resorts on the shore. The border between Lithuania and Russia is in the middle of the lake and border guard boats patrol there. Lithuania.

In 2015 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon #lithuania
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbEpMtGsSFq/?utm_medium=tumblr

Kaliningrad 2015, Portrait of Ilya Schumanov, head of local Transparency International office in Kaliningrad.

In 2015 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbCYCztsGmg/?utm_medium=tumblr

Kaliningrad, 2016. Portrait of Ivan Ivanovich, former OMON special forces soldier in Baltiysk is today a teacher for patriotism. In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea. ———

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon #omon #soldiers
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca_zPByMpS-/?utm_medium=tumblr

Lithuania, 2016. The first conscripts arrive in their barracks everyone we talked to was so proud to be able to defend his country against a possible russian invasion. I could not help myself thinking that these very young man maybe have a false image from war, coming from Playstation games.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #lithuania #russia #prixchaffajon #conscripts #soldiers

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca9HessM3W1/?utm_medium=tumblr

Kaliningrad 2016. Once beeing a liberator from the german Nazi regime and occupation I highly doubt that this will happen again in the future for russian forces.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon #tank

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cay6pL2MmT2/?utm_medium=tumblr

Lithuania 2016, NATO Air policing mission base. Norwegian officer in front of his fighter jet. NATO has several bases throughout the Baltic states. Each day the fighter planes of air forces of Nowegian, Italian and German, French and more states had to check for russian planes coming in from St.Petersburg to KaLiningrad with their transponders turned off. The amount of unofficials flights like this is raising constantly officials said You can search on YT for videos of NATO pilots checking out these planes.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia
Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #navy #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon #urbanwarfare #airpolicing #nato #airforce #eurofighter
https://www.instagram.com/p/CawZoF0sHdl/?utm_medium=tumblr

Kaliningrad 2016, A fisherman in the miltary port. Of course we could not visit this region officially and i think our fixer had to work with the police We got followed and questioned by police from the beginning when we were interviewing a professor for history.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #navy #peaceinukraine #military #kaliningrad #russia #prixchaffajon #urbanwarfare
https://www.instagram.com/p/CaulgjSMvvV/?utm_medium=tumblr

Lithuania 2016. US forces take a short rest after a urban warfare training with the Lithuanian army.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #nato #poland #lithuania #prixchaffajon #watchtowers #urbanwarfare
https://www.instagram.com/p/CarXOnvs5YR/?utm_medium=tumblr

Poland 2016. Poland built many observation towers like this along the 200 km border to Kaliningrad. The Spokesperson told us they are just used for observing illegal crossings of the border. I doubt that. But noone knows what kind of weaponry is stationed in Kaliningrad exactly. And Kaliningrad is basicly inside od EU and NATO countries.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #nato #poland #lithuania #prixchaffajon #watchtowers
https://www.instagram.com/p/CaozK8RLrOI/?utm_medium=tumblr

Lithuania, 2016. Lithuanian soldiers training with US army rural fighting in houses. This programm with US instructors shall train different tactics and strategies to an army with no experience in real fighting.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #military #nato #poland #lithuania #prixchaffajon #lithuania #armytraining
https://www.instagram.com/p/CamfhQVsr18/?utm_medium=tumblr

Lithuania, 2016. Conscription started again for the first time after independence.

In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #kaliningrad #military #nato #poland #lithuania #prixchaffajon #lithuania #conscription
https://www.instagram.com/p/CajaDpKsCPA/?utm_medium=tumblr

Battle of Kalniske, Lithuania. Remilitarisation of Kaliningrad region. In 2016 I went with my big love and expert reporter Prune Antoine #plumaberlin and Gil Skorwid on a research trip about the remilitarisation of the Kaliningrad region for #Mediapart and later won the #prixchaffajon for multimedia reportage.

After two days we got kicked out of Kaliningrad by the secret service who followed us all the time because we had no proper journalist Visa. So we went on to Lithuania and Poland who are direct neighbours to Russia / Kaliningrad. Both were afraid of what was coming after the annexation of Crimea.

Poland built surveillance towers along the whole border of Kaliningrad and has military units stationed near the border. Lithuania just introduced conscription under President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The film maker Aleksandras Matonis restaged the battle of Kalniske (which you see here) between the NKDW forces and Lithuanian partisans after WW2 to reshape Lithuanian fighting spirit because history books said Lithuanian lost drastically which he thought to be a Russian myth. The US Army had a training center for the Lithuanian army and the NATO has their quick response air force stationed in the Baltic states. They reported daily flights from russian mainland to Kaliningrad without transponder so they had to scramble their fighters to check every flight. But nobody knew what’s inside Kaliningrad. And this enclave is in missile range of a lot of the mayor cities of Europe.

It has been 6 years now and all of a sudden all the fears become real in #Ukraine. Its horrible and i hope its over soon and Russian forces are withdrawing from Ukrainian soil.

#militarisation #warinukraine #peaceinukraine #kaliningrad #military #nato #poland #lithuania #prixchaffajon #ukraina
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cah1J5aMTR6/?utm_medium=tumblr