Warsaw has summoned the Russian Ambassador to Poland after President Vladimir Putin threatened Poland and claimed it was eyeing territory in Ukraine and Belarus.
After the arrival of 5,000 Wagner fighters into Belarus following their short-lived mutiny, Poland said it would move troops to the border.
Putin reacted aggressively, saying Poland was about to occupy western parts of Ukraine and was “dreaming of Belarusian lands,” threatening to respond with force.
Number of Wagner fighters in Belarus reaches 5,000
About 5,000 Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus, according to Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service spokesman Andrii Demchenko. Their presence there does not present an immediate threat to Ukraine, he said.
“The western territories of present-day Poland are a gift from (Soviet tyrant Joseph) Stalin to the Poles, have our friends in Warsaw forgotten about this?” he added. “We will remind you.”
“Stalin was a war criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Poles,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on July 21.
“The historical truth is not subject to discussion,” he added.
Russia has regularly threatened Poland and the Baltic states with military force. Putin has also been sabre-rattling using nuclear weapons on multiple occasions.
Poland has been one of the key backers of Ukraine in its defensive war agaisnt Russia.
Morawiecki said in an interview published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on June 4 that Ukraine deserves a quick path to NATO membership given that it “fights in the interests of NATO.”
According to Morawiecki, Ukraine fights on behalf of the military alliance “in the sense that they are defending against this brutal Russian force which would jeopardize many other NATO countries,” even though it is not yet a NATO member.
For this reason “they deserve to be presented with a very quick path to NATO,” the Polish Prime Minister said.
