Polish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski hopes that following public warnings, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not resort to provocations against Poland or the Baltic states. He said this in an interview with CNN.
“Russia cannot attack NATO by force. It does not have the necessary capabilities. As long as Ukraine continues to resist bravely, Putin cannot even invade the Baltic states. We would see it in advance, just as we saw Russian forces massing around Ukraine ahead of the invasion.
But what they are capable of is staging some kind of provocation, using provocateurs and drones, possibly Ukrainian drones, and then pretending to respond to our fake, non-existent attack. They have played such games before. And we must be prepared. We must tell them, and that is exactly what we are doing, that we know they are planning something malicious.
Remember that during the previous administration, before the invasion of Ukraine, the United States publicly warned that Russia was planning to fabricate a pretext for war, a false justification for war. And that prevented the Russians from taking real action.
So I hope these warnings mean that Putin will not push the button on a provocation,” he said.
Last week, British and Polish media published reports outlining possible scenarios for Russian provocations against Poland. The scenarios, citing military and diplomatic sources, envisaged the involvement of Russian or Belarusian military personnel and drones.
One of the most far-reaching scenarios envisaged Russian or Belarusian servicemen entering Polish territory under the pretext of a rescue operation. They would then be withdrawn not through the use of force but as a result of negotiations initiated under pressure from the United States. As part of those talks, Russia would also demand a reduction in support for Ukraine.
