US will defend every inch of NATO territory – State Department on Wagner’s threats to Poland

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said this at a press briefing.

"Our alliance with Poland is strong.  Poland is a NATO member, of course, and we will defend, if necessary, every inch of NATO territory," he said. 

Earlier, Alexander Lukashenko tellingly complained to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin that he was being bothered by mercenaries from the Wagner PMC. They are allegedly "asking to go to the West" and want to go on an excursion to Warsaw and Rzeszow.

Putin called Poland's lands "a gift from Stalin". What consequences can this have?

On July 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Security Council that Poland and Lithuania were planning to occupy Ukraine, and he called the western territories of Poland "a gift from Joseph Stalin."

"The western territories of present-day Poland are Stalin's gift to the Poles. Have our friends in Warsaw forgotten about this? We will remind them," Putin said.

According to him, the Poles seem to be dreaming of taking over the western regions of Ukraine.

"As for the Polish leaders, they are probably hoping to form some kind of coalition under the NATO umbrella and directly intervene in the conflict in Ukraine in order to tear off a bigger piece for themselves, to regain what they consider to be their historical territories - today's western Ukraine," the Kremlin's master said in a propaganda narrative.

In response, on July 22, the Polish Foreign Ministry urgently summoned the Russian ambassador to Warsaw, Sergei Andreev, for a meeting. According to the head of Polish diplomacy, Paweł Jabłoński, their meeting was very short. During the meeting, the ambassador was very nervous, treated him with hostility, and his behavior did not meet the standards of diplomatic protocol.

Jabłoński noted that this is not the first such situation and that the ambassador's behavior reflects the attitude of the country he represents. In his opinion, this position shows that Russia does not intend to achieve any goals through diplomacy.

"This provocative behavior on the part of Russia has been going on for months, so we expect this policy to continue, and there will be more provocations in the near future, as Russia is monitoring the situation in Poland," Jabłoński said.

In turn, Oleksandr Khara, an expert on foreign and security policy at the Center for Defense Strategies (Ukraine), believes that Putin may well be preparing for a war with Poland. The political scientist expressed this opinion on Espreso TV. 

"Putin may be preparing for a war against Poland. Because losing to Ukraine, which he claims was invented by Lenin, would be a humiliation for him. But losing to the NATO bloc is not such a shame. He may well bring about a situation similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis and then seek a compromise, which is also a great option for the Russian population. Even the fact that the Wagner troops have been redeployed to Belarus may be part of Putin's game," Khara explained.

The expert emphasized that Putin may resort to a direct confrontation with NATO because of his failures in Ukraine.

"The Wagner PMC was initially funded from the Russian budget. However, now the Kremlin can change its rhetoric and claim that there are some volunteers who can start fighting for the Suwałki corridor. That is, there may be different scenarios. Putin's inability to achieve any goals in Ukraine may push him to various absurd actions," Khara added.