Poland summons Russian envoy after Putin’s ‘provocative’ border comments
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Poland has moved troops to its eastern border (above), amid the arrival in neighbouring Belarus of Wagner mercenary forces from Russia.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WARSAW – Poland’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday issued an “urgent” summons to the Russian ambassador to protest what Warsaw termed “provocative declarations” by President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Putin on Friday had accused North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) member Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union, and said that any aggression against Russia’s neighbour and close ally Belarus would be considered an attack on Russia.
Moscow would react to any aggression against Belarus, which forms a loose “Union State” with Russia, “with all the means at our disposal”, Mr Putin told a meeting of his Security Council in televised remarks.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said the Russian ambassador was summoned following “provocative declarations by Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as (following) threats and other inimical actions by the Russian Federation with regard to Poland and our allies”.
“The meeting was very brief,” he added. “The frontiers between countries are absolutely untouchable and Poland is opposed to any kind of revision thereof.”
Mr Jablonski said Mr Putin’s comments were “an attempt to absolve the war criminal that was Stalin by another war criminal which is Putin today”.
Warsaw’s Security Committee decided on Wednesday to move military units to eastern Poland after members of the Russian Wagner mercenary force arrived in Belarus,
Poland denies any territorial ambitions in Belarus.
In his remarks, Mr Putin had also stated that the western part of Poland was a gift from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to the country and that Russia would remind Poles about it.
In apparent reference to that, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki tweeted on Friday evening that “Stalin was a war criminal, guilty of the death of hundreds of thousands of Poles. Historical truth is not debatable”.
“The ambassador of the Russian Federation will be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.
On Thursday, Belarus said Wagner mercenaries had started to train Belarusian special forces
Tactical nukes
Russia has in recent weeks started stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Friday that Germany and Nato were prepared to support Poland in defending the military alliance’s eastern flank.
Mr Putin said there were press reports of plans for a Polish-Lithuanian unit to be used for operations in western Ukraine – parts of which in the past belonged to Poland – and ultimately, to occupy territory there.
“It is well known that they also dream of the Belarusian lands,” he said, without providing any evidence.
On Wednesday, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them that they would take no further part for now in the war in Ukraine but ordering them to gather strength for Wagner’s operations in Africa while they trained the Belarusian army.
Prigozhin says Wagner, which led the conquest of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, is Russia’s most effective fighting force. But his frequent clashes with the Moscow defence establishment led him to stage an armed mutiny four weeks ago.
The insurrection ended with an agreement that Wagner fighters – many of whom are recruited from prison – could move to Belarus if they wished. REUTERS, AFP
