Poland will not support attempts to provoke a confrontation between Russia and the West, as they can lead to negative consequences for Warsaw. Such a statement was made by the Head of the Office of the President of Poland, Krzysztof Szchersky, in an interview with Reuters.

“As a country that is adjacent to Russia, we will never insist on antagonism in relations between Western countries and Russia, because then we can become a victim of this hostility,” said Shchersky.

At the same time, the head of the Polish Chancellery noted that at the moment the space for dialogue between Poland and Russia remains limited.

“At present, opportunities for diplomacy, as well as for dialogue (with Russia. - RT ) are limited,” the Polish official said, immediately setting the condition that Moscow should change its policy in order to expand the dialogue.

“Russian politics may change, it may open the way to a broader dialogue, but this will require a change in conditions. First of all, a departure from power politics in the region. ”

Before setting conditions for Moscow, the Polish side should remember whose fault Russian-Polish relations have degraded to their current level, Vadim Volobuev, senior researcher at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with RT.

“Warsaw should remember that she herself did everything to keep contacts between our countries to a minimum. Moreover, she places all responsibility on Moscow, ”the political scientist emphasized.

  • Polish President Andrzej Duda at the NATO summit
  • Reuters
  • © Kevin Lamarque

Threat without enemy

Polish President Andrzej Duda recently also did not call Russia an enemy during the NATO summit, which was held in London on December 3-4.

Then, following a meeting of representatives of the countries participating in the alliance, a joint statement was distributed on behalf of NATO members, in which, among the main threats, “aggressive actions by Russia” were identified.

However, later, in the course of communication with reporters, Duda refused to call Russia an enemy and instead stated that she was a neighbor with whom the alliance does not always agree, considering some of Moscow’s actions unacceptable.

“There is no enemy. Nobody is attacking NATO now ... Terrorist organizations that allow themselves to attack citizens and soldiers can be called an enemy, ”the Polish president said then.

According to Duda, it is unacceptable to say “about some kind of enemy at the state level”, adding that NATO has no “hostility” towards Russia.

A few days after the summit, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic bloc Jens Stoltenberg made the same statement. During an interview with CNN, he also said that the alliance does not consider Russia to be its enemy.

“We do not make lists of opponents. We do not define Russia as an enemy. We see a more assertive Russia that has used force against a neighboring country - Ukraine ... We do not divide the world into enemies and friends, ”said Stoltenberg.

Such a dual policy is characteristic of all countries that are members of NATO, said the head of the sector of regional problems and conflicts IMEMO named after E.M. Primakova RAS Konstantin Voronov.

“On the one hand, they have embarked on containment of Russia, and on the other, they are striving to maintain a dialogue with it. This is due to the Trump administration’s policy of revising allied relations and a serious transformation in Western Europe, which is looking for independence after Brexit, ”the expert noted.

  • US troops in Poland
  • © Kacper Pempel

American presence

Despite recent statements by top government officials, over the past few years, Poland has repeatedly called for an increase in the US military presence in the country, citing the need for “protection” from Russia.

In August 2019, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravecki announced that Warsaw was interested in deploying a new NATO base on its territory on a long-term basis - the head of government explained this by the need to strengthen the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance.

At the same time, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Chaputović said that the expansion of the US military contingent in Poland would play a much greater role in containing Russia than the deployment of American forces in Western Europe.

At the end of September, US President Donald Trump and Andrzej Duda, during a meeting on the sidelines of the 4th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, signed a declaration stipulating an increase in the contingent of US troops in Poland. According to the document, another 4,500 military will join the 4,500 US troops already deployed in Poland on a rotational basis.

After meeting with Trump and signing the declaration, Duda stated that such actions are an “adequate reaction” to Russian politics. In his opinion, the deployment of the US military in the country will help "prevent new military conflicts."

Then, on September 26, the country's national defense minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, announced that US headquarters on the eastern flank of NATO would be relocated from Germany to Poland. According to the Polish minister, the presence of the US Army in Poland "scares away any aggressor," because "American troops are the most powerful in the world."

Also, the Polish authorities actively promoted the idea of ​​building a large military base in the country to accommodate the American military contingent, which was proposed to be called "Trump." Warsaw was ready to allocate $ 2 billion to finance the project, but Washington did not support this idea.

  • Head of the Office of the President of Poland Krzysztof Szchersky
  • globallookpress.com
  • © Krzysztof Szczerski

“Have to change your course”

It is worth noting that during an interview with Reuters, Krzysztof Szchersky raised another topic that Warsaw has speculated in dialogue with Russia for many years - an investigation into the circumstances of the crash of Tu-154 of then-Polish President Lech Kaczynski near Smolensk in 2010.

“The decision of the Russian side to keep secret the circumstances of the catastrophe under Smolensk’s heavy load rests on Russian-Polish relations,” said Shchersky.

Recall that the plane crash occurred in April 2010, when the plane of Lech Kaczynski landed at the Smolensk-Severny airport. Onboard the ship were 96 people - 88 passengers and eight crew members flying to mourning events in Katyn. They all died.

In 2011, the Interstate Aviation Committee published a final report on the results of a technical investigation, in which the cause of the crash was the crew’s decision to land in dense fog.

Despite the conclusions of the IAC, the Polish authorities demanded a review of the results of the investigation, and also began to promote various speculative and conspiracy theories about what happened, for example, allegedly about detecting traces of explosives.

Konstantin Voronov in a conversation with RT noted that such statements by Polish officials would clearly prevent Warsaw from establishing any contact with Moscow on the basis of one or two neutral reconciliatory remarks. Moreover, the desire to soften the rhetoric regarding Russia may well be due to economic reasons, the expert said.

“Poland now has a rather difficult situation, especially under the new EU administration, which will cut the budget for the next five-year period. Accordingly, Warsaw will lose many subsidies, access to EU funds, which equalize the levels of economic development of the Union countries, and many projects. Under these conditions, Poland will have to change its course in the near future, respectively, the possibility of building not only political, but also economic relations with Russia is increasing, ”said Konstantin Voronov.

This opinion is shared by the candidate of historical sciences, the teacher of the department of foreign regional studies and foreign policy of the Historical and Archival Institute of the RSUH Vadim Trukhachev.

“Perhaps the European Union said that if Poland is very zealous, then it will reduce funding. In addition, the presidential elections are coming up in Warsaw and, accordingly, holding them in the pre-war atmosphere that was in the country until recently would be too much, ”the political analyst explained in a conversation with RT.

According to Vadim Trukhachev, the statements of Warsaw demonstrate that "the power in the country is completely confused."

“Russian-Polish relations simply do not exist today. Polish authorities chopped off all the ends so that contacts between our countries were reduced to a minimum. Therefore, they themselves must restore relations with Russia, ”the expert concluded.