Adnkronos (Adnkronos) –
"Putin won't win, he's panicking. Moscow could provoke a NATO country and widen the conflict." Russia provokes with the incursion of a military helicopter, and Poland is ready to respond. Tensions are rising along the Moscow-Warsaw axis, with yet another Russian action on NATO territory. A Russian military helicopter has violated Polish airspace, Warsaw reported.
The aircraft, an Mi-8, crossed 300 meters into Polish airspace from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and remained in the area for 42 seconds. "The aircraft's flight was monitored by the radar systems of the Polish Armed Forces," the army said. "Fighter aircraft took off immediately, while ground forces and vehicles remained on high alert."
The nature of the incident suggests that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defense.”
The move was made while Polish leaders were at the United Nations in New York. "Russia is displaying the same imperial arrogance that, in the past, led to unimaginable suffering and the tragedies of two world wars.
"There is no respect for international law. Poland is particularly aware of the consequences of colonialism and Russian imperialism. We are determined to counter the threats posed to us by the Kremlin's aggressive policies," President Karol Nawrocki said, speaking before the General Assembly.
Nawrocki argued that Moscow is destabilizing Europe through "open aggression, hybrid operations, and acts of sabotage. We are not seeking conflict. We are strengthening our alliances, developing our armed forces, and modernizing their equipment not to wage war, but to prevent it." Any response to hybrid attacks must be "firm, coherent, and also united," he said.
In the Security Council, Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski addressed Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, directly. “Russia is not advancing on the front and is deliberately targeting civilians in Ukraine: train passengers, shopkeepers, cyclists. And it is applying the same tactics in Europe. On September 13, a drone struck a train 2 kilometers from the Polish border,” he said, listing other actions—“sabotage, cyberattacks, clandestine attacks”—attributed to Moscow. “To the representatives of the Russian Federation, I say this: you have been trying to conquer Donbass for over 12 years, and Kiev for over 4. You have been stopped by heroic Ukraine, a country with one-tenth of Russia's GDP. But Poland has almost half your GDP. Europe has ten times your GDP. NATO has twenty-five times your GDP. You can still kill many people, but you cannot win,” Sikorski said. “You can stop this war at any time, do not put Europe and the world in further danger.”
“Russia has chosen escalation because the Russian leadership is panicking. After more than four years of a senseless colonial war, Vladimir Putin has achieved nothing. He is running out of troops and resources and needs a pretext for mobilization. His pointless war has killed or wounded 1.5 million Russians. Millions of Ukrainians and other Europeans are increasingly in danger. At any moment, Putin could provoke a NATO country and widen the war,” he added. “Sergei,” he concluded, turning to Lavrov, “I know you're listening: tell your boss that enough is enough…”
international/foreign
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