Strait of Baltiysk

The Strait of Baltiysk (Russian: Балтийский пролив, Polish: Cieśnina Piławska, German: Pillauer Tief) is a strait enabling passage from the Baltic Sea into the brackish Vistula Lagoon, located in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia.

The strait is the shipping connection from the high sea to the important Russian ports of Baltiysk and Kaliningrad in the northeastern lagoon, as well as to the Polish ports of Elbląg, Braniewo, Tolkmicko, Frombork, Sztutowo, Krynica Morska, and Nowa Pasłęka in the southeastern lagoon.

[1] On 17 September 2022, Poland opened a new canal through the Vistula Spit, which will allow ships to enter the Polish port of Elbląg without passing through the Strait of Baltiysk in Russia's Kaliningrad region.

In 1626 King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden landed with 37 ships next to the gat, at a spot already slightly fortified, transforming it into the Pillau Fortress [de], and holding it for ten years (till the Treaty of Stuhmsdorf), also in order to pressure his brother-in-law George William, Duke of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg, to support him in the Polish–Swedish War and the Thirty Years' War.

The Swedes extended the adjacent Pillau village and built its first place of worship, a Lutheran church.