The Polish defence minister said, on Sunday, that Poland would never allow Russia to occupy “even an inch” of its soil.
“We will never allow this as we want Poland to be an independent country because we want to defend our homeland and because we know how to do this,” Minister Błaszczak said on Sunday in Wolica Sniatycka, eastern Poland.
Błaszczak made the statement during the unveiling of a monument which commemorates the Battle of Komarów, one of the most important battles of the Polish-Soviet War, in which Polish-Ukrainian forces defeated the Russian cavalry on August 31, 1920, and prevented the westward expansion of the Bolsheviks.
Referring to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Błaszczak said that during his visit to Irpin, near Kyiv, he had seen “the consequences of the Russian invasion.”
“Remembrance and perseverance in developing and strengthening the Polish army are the response to these threats,” the minister concluded.
Disappointing German policies towards Russia
What is more, the Polish defence minister has said that German policies towards Russia have been very dangerous for Europe.
“Because of these policies Vladimir Putin has been able to get money for armaments,” Minister Mariusz Błaszczak told the polskatimes.pl website in an interview, the excerpts of which were published on Sunday.
“Germany’s policies have been directed at doing business with Russia and, undoubtedly, this does not give us any security guarantees,” the defence minister said.
Having described Germany’s policies towards Russia as disappointing, Błaszczak said it had looked like this not from the day Olaf Scholz was appointed chancellor but much earlier.
“It had also been disappointing in the times of Angela Merkel,” he added.
Błaszczak stated that Germany’s policies have been making both Europe and Germany dependent on the supplies of Russian raw materials for energy.
According to Błaszczak, the Kremlin has been given the prospect to shut off crude oil and gas supplies. “And this opportunity had already been used by Russia towards Ukraine in 2009 when Russia halted energy supplies to that country,” the minister said.
“These policies have not come as a surprise, but it is necessary to interpret them properly,” Błaszczak concluded.