In the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent assertion that Russia has no intentions of invading Poland, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has expressed doubts about the credibility of Putin’s claims.
Genocide of Ukrainians is reasonable, Putin tells Tucker Carlson
On 6 January, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, known for his pro-Russian views, took an interview with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
By the end of their conversation, it became clear that the Russian dictator had no intention of ending his brutal war against Ukraine. He stated Russia was “forced to protect Crimea as the peninsula was under threat” because Ukraine “initiated the war in 2014.” According to Putin, in 2022, Russia did not initiate a war but rather “attempted to stop it.”
When asked if Moscow would consider invading other countries in the European continent, Putin said that was “out of the question,” as per Agence France-Presse.
“We have no interest in Poland, Latvia, or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest. It’s just threat mongering,” Putin said.
A war with Poland, he said, would happen “only in one case: if Poland attacks Russia.”
In response to Putin’s assurances that Moscow has no plans to launch a war on Poland, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz emphasized the importance of remaining prepared for potential conflict with Russia, considering recent events in neighboring Ukraine.
“Nothing can make us let down our guard… and such words certainly do not cause this, on the contrary,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters on 9 February.
Poland, a NATO and EU member, shares a border with Russia’s ally Belarus and with Kaliningrad, the armed Russian exclave.
“The more someone repeats that something is not planned, the more suspicious you must be, especially with such words,” said Kosiniak-Kamysz.
The claim drew a sharp rebuke from Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who branded Putin a “Russian dictator.”
“We are used to paranoid justifications for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022,” Sikorski said on social media. What’s shocking is that this time, they are enabled by an American journalist,” Sikorski said.
Read more:
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- How Russia justifies the murder of Ukrainians: Russia’s 2022 “genocide handbook” deconstructed
- Putin has started “solving the Ukrainian question”
- Russia’s call for genocide of Ukrainians outstrips Mein Kampf
- Russian occupiers launch war on Ukrainian history, burning books and destroying archives