Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union and mentioned any aggression in opposition to its neighbour and ally Belarus could be thought of an assault on Russia itself.
In televised remarks on Friday, Putin warned that Moscow would use any means at its disposal to guard Belarus, which types a unfastened Union State with Russia, in opposition to attainable assaults.
Putin mentioned there have been experiences of plans for a Polish-Lithuanian unit for use for operations in western Ukraine – elements of which previously belonged to Poland – and finally to occupy territory there.
“However so far as Belarus is worried, it’s a part of the Union State. Unleashing aggression in opposition to Belarus will imply aggression in opposition to the Russian Federation,” Putin mentioned at a gathering of the Kremlin’s Safety Council.
“We’ll reply to this with all of the means at our disposal.”
“It’s well-known that in addition they dream of the Belarusian lands,” he mentioned, additionally with out offering any proof.
‘Pathetic bore from the Kremlin’
Poland, a NATO member and one in every of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in its struggle in opposition to Russia’s invasion, denied any territorial ambitions in Ukraine or Belarus.
“The pathetic bore from the Kremlin is as soon as once more repeating lies about Poland and likewise attempting to falsify the reality in regards to the conflict in opposition to Ukraine,” Poland’s deputy minister coordinator of particular providers, Stanislaw Zaryn, informed the state-owned PAP information company.
“Vladimir Putin can also be utilizing historic revisionism once more to unfold false accusations in opposition to Poland.”
In his remarks, Putin argued Poland’s western territories had been a “current” from former Soviet chief Joseph Stalin.
“Because of the Soviet Union, to Stalin, Poland acquired important quantities of lands within the west, lands that used to belong to Germany. It’s so. Western territories of Poland are the current given by Stalin to Poles. Our buddies in Warsaw had forgotten about it. We’ll remind them.”
Putin’s feedback are a message that “Poland must be grateful to the Soviet Union, to Russia, and as an alternative they’re turning into extra of an enemy to Russia,” mentioned Nina Khrushcheva, professor of worldwide affairs on the New College and great-granddaughter of former Soviet chief Nikita Khrushchev.
“Additionally this can be a message to the Ukrainians: ‘Please do not forget that for a few years Ukraine and Poland weren’t nice buddies, and so now you’re being duped.’ So this can be a multilayered propaganda message on the Kremlin’s half,” she informed Al Jazeera from Moscow.
Poland has strengthened its defences on the border with Belarus, the place fighters from the Wagner mercenary pressure moved after an aborted mutiny in Russia final month.
Warsaw’s Safety Committee selected Wednesday to maneuver navy items to japanese Poland after Wagner fighters arrived in Belarus, PAP quoted its secretary as saying on Friday.
On Wednesday, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was proven in a video welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they’d take no additional half for now within the conflict in Ukraine however ordering them to assemble power for Wagner’s operations in Africa whereas they skilled the Belarusian military.
Prigozhin’s short-lived revolt 4 weeks in the past ended with an settlement that Wagner fighters – many recruited from jail – may transfer to Belarus in the event that they wished.
On Thursday, Minsk mentioned Wagner mercenaries had began to coach Belarusian particular forces at a navy vary near the Polish border.
Poland has offered Kyiv with arms and welcomed refugees since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
It has, nonetheless, proven little interest in sending troops to Ukraine.
Putin accused its leaders of attempting to “straight intervene within the battle” to occupy Ukrainian land.
Belarus – which borders Ukraine, the European Union and NATO members Poland and Lithuania – served as a launch pad for Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
“With Belarus and the Wagner Group being there and Poland bringing troops to the border with Belarus and Poland additionally saying it could probably like to hold a NATO nuclear arsenal to some extent – that’s why I believe Poland has turn into a bit of rhetoric within the Kremlin,” Khrushcheva mentioned.