© TASS
Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev was urgently summoned to the local Foreign Ministry on Saturday morning, July 22. According to that country’s Deputy Minister Pavel Jablonski, this was brought about by "provocative statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin, threats against Poland and other unfriendly actions by the Russian Federation towards our country and allies." But the Poles failed to somehow lecture our diplomat and got a properly reasoned rebuff instead.
"He [Jablonski] received <…> explanations regarding how we see both the history of the 20th century and the behavior of Polish authorities now in regards to the conflict in Donbass, Novorossiya and in Ukraine," TASS cites the ambassador as saying. "We registered a complete lack of mutual understanding and completely different approaches to both issues of today’s politics and issues of history. There’s nothing to add here," Sergey Andreev stressed. According to him, no formal note was handed to him, with the Polish side having only limited itself to verbal discontent.
Why did the Polish diplomats get so excited? It's hard to believe, but they didn't like the Russian president's reminder that Poland obtained its western lands from Germany after World War II thanks to Joseph Stalin's stance at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. Although the US presidents — Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman respectively — and the British prime ministers (Winston Churchill and Count Clement Attlee) strongly recommended against awarding Poland in any way. Moreover, Churchill branded that country a "hyena" in his pre-war The Gathering Storm, dedicated to the beginning of World War II. Exactly this phrase sounded like this: "That very Poland which with hyena appetite had only six months before joined in the pillage and destruction of the Czechoslovak State."
Reminders of historic guilt have been painful for the keen self-esteem of the country’s current arrogant and belligerent leaders. Vladimir Putin, when speaking at a meeting of the Russian Security Council, recalled that "following WWI, after the defeat of Germany and its allies, Polish units occupied Lvov and adjacent territories that had been part of Austria-Hungary." "With its actions incited by the West, Poland took advantage of the tragedy of the Civil War in Russia and annexed certain historical Russian provinces. In dire straits, our country had to sign the Treaty of Riga in 1921 and recognize the annexation of its territories. Even earlier, back in 1920, Poland captured part of Lithuania – the Vilnius region, a territory surrounding the present-day Vilnius. So, they claimed that they fought together with the Lithuanians against so-called Russian imperialism, but then immediately snatched a piece of land from their neighbor as soon as the opportunity presented itself."
"I would also like to remind you," Vladimir Putin went on to say, "what Poland’s aggressive policy led to. It led to the national tragedy of 1939, when Poland’s Western allies threw it to the German wolf, the German military machine. Poland actually lost its independence and statehood, which were only restored thanks in a large measure to the Soviet Union. It was also thanks to the Soviet Union and thanks to Stalin’s position that Poland acquired substantial territory in the west, German territory. It is a fact that Poland’s western lands are a gift from Stalin."
The President said this after the foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin’s report on plans by the Polish leadership to benefit from the weakened Ukraine after its failed counteroffensive against Russian troops and seize its western regions. And not only them.
"As for the Polish leaders," Vladimir Putin said, "they probably hope to form a coalition under the NATO umbrella in order to directly intervene in the conflict in Ukraine and to bite off as much as possible, to “regain,” as they see it, their historical territories, that is, modern-day Western Ukraine. It is also common knowledge that they dream about Belarusian land."
"Regarding the policy of the Ukrainian regime, it is none of our business. If they want to relinquish or sell off something in order to pay their bosses, as traitors usually do, that’s their business. We will not interfere," the president stressed. "But Belarus is part of the Union State, and launching an aggression against Belarus would mean launching an aggression against the Russian Federation. We will respond to that with all the resources available to us."
I apologize for this many quotes, but they help more accurately convey the way the Kremlin and Russia perceive present-day Poland’s aggressive policy. It would be hard to explain Moscow’s overcare and steps to ensure security at the western borders amid the war with Ukraine. We do need this urgently, along with our ally Belarus. So, let's turn to facts.
According to The Military Balance newsletter covering armies of the world’s leading nations and published annually by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Poland’s active army accounts for 105 000 personnel, most of them with the land power. Others serve in the naval, airborne and special operations forces, are part of territorial defense troops. Polish President Andrzej Duda is going to increase his army to 300 000 people in the face of Russia’s alleged aggression.
Despite its 1000-strong tank armada, including 300 famous German Leopards 2A4 plus the remaining RT-91s, let alone the T-72s that were sent for disposal to Ukraine, Warsaw bought another thousand American Abrams tanks and the same number of South Korean K2s Black Panther. 28 of them have already been received, with the latter model deemed by experts as one of the best worldwide. Unlike the Western tanks, it has an autoloader, just as Russia’s.
The question is: why should Poland, a NATO member enjoying its protective umbrella, have so many offensive vehicles? Why does it need a dozen and a half American military bases scattered throughout its territory, and a 100+ overseas military facilities, the lion's share of which are weapon warehouses? Or as many as 10,000 US servicemen who feel at home in Poland, with all their unsophisticated traditions and habits?
The answer “to defend against Russia” sound unconvincingly, because our country has never really threatened Poland, and the purchase of offensive arms runs counter to the purpose announced. Especially given that Warsaw has bought 500 US HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems known for shelling Russian border cities, especially in the Donbass. Or Patriot missile defense/air defense systems, the analogue of which was annihilated outside Kiev by our Kinzhals; or multifunctional nuclear-capable F-35A Lightning fighters; or the well-known Javelin ATGM; or AIM-120C-7 air-to-air missiles; or many other Pentagon weapons worth tens of billions of dollars. And let's not forget about the American Aegis Ashore missile defense system next to the city of Redzikovo whose Mk-41 launchers can fire both SM-3 anti-missiles and Tomahawk TLAMs capable of carrying a nuclear warhead at a range of two and a half thousand kilometers. Is the US-covered "hyena" going to break bad?
At the same time, Warsaw and Washington make no secret of the anti-Russian nature of all these militarist preparations or enhanced cooperation between Poland and the United States. "The United States and Poland are working together to maintain a forward presence to protect the alliance and counter a Russia that continues to undermine the rules-based international order," the US State Department said in a statement. "The United States leads the Enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Poland and deploys an armored brigade combat group on a rotational basis as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, funded by the European Deterrence Initiative."
Apart from that, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked the United States and NATO to deploy nuclear weapons in his country and make it part of the Nuclear Sharing program, which stipulates a transfer of its nuclear weapons to the air forces of NATO countries, if necessary. The program has already embraced Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey, all of whom host a total of 150 American B61 atomic bombs. And Warsaw strives to engage as well.
Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has also responded to the Polish leadership’s "nuclear message". "Given that only patented degenerates have been collected in the Polish leadership today, the request to deploy nuclear weapons in Poland threatens only one. Such weapons will be used," he wrote on Telegram, noting that the final decision is up to the "madmen overseas." Medvedev also pointed to the current situation’s positive side: "All the dudas, morawieckis, kaczynskis and other scum will disappear. Well, unfortunately, the others will disappear, too...", he concluded. And this is the saddest thing. Warsaw’s brutal aggressive hatred of everything Russian in defiance of history lessons that President Putin reminded them of, may entail a tragedy to the Polish people. Well, it won’t be our choice.
It is certainly utter naivety and complacency to tolerate this kind of aggressive preparations by Warsaw and Washington, explicitly and demonstratively directed against our country and allied Belarus, taking no steps to counteract plans that threaten our sovereignty and independence. And on the other hand, it is unacceptable to push the panic button, get involved in arms race the West is seeking to drag us into, or impose extra unacceptable expenses upon the army and defense industry working to the max to defeat Ukraine’s Bandera regime. A vital thing here is reasonable balance between what is necessary and sufficient to deter the aggressor and to repel his possible attack on our borders. How to achieve it?
A journalist should not give advice or recommendation to the political and military leadership of a country, but steps aimed at preparing to repel real threats from the western borders have become explicit today. Among them is Iskander-M brigade deployment in the Kaliningrad region covered by the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. The ballistic and cruise missiles of the complex are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead at a range of 500 km, which is fair enough to reach Warsaw, Redzikovo, or any other NATO base in the Polish territory, if needed.
In addition, Russia has placed a similar brigade in Belarus, as requested by President Alexander Lukashenko. Nuclear missiles and bombs for the Belarusian multifunctional Su-30 and Su-35 fighters will also be deployed there. The republic's aircraft have been properly equipped, and the pilots trained. The question is as follows: if the US has ventured to train the pilots of Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey, why can't Russia do the same?! We do not care about Western outrage that Gods may do what cattle may not. The USA and NATO are not Gods to us, and we are not cattle to them. We are entitled to do the same they are.
Russian nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus will sort of sober hotheads in Washington and Warsaw in a way that lasts. Just like Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko’s joint warning at their recent meeting in St. Petersburg that the invasion of Polish troops in the western regions of Belarus and Ukraine will entail a severe rebuff. If they do not come to their senses, let them never forget the fate of Ukraine, which has become a bargaining chip between the West and Russia.
Once the Polish leaders seek a tragic history repeating, let them try further.
