And you make Warsaw

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called on the United States to station its units on the territory of his country to protect against possible aggression from Russia. Speaking at a news conference in Washington, Sikorsky mentioned joint Russian-Belarusian exercises held in September near the border with Poland and involving hundreds of tanks. The minister noted that there are currently only six American soldiers in Poland, and in a situation where six soldiers are confronting 900 tanks, one can hardly be calm.

When Poland joined NATO, Sikorsky recalled, Russia was given a promise that significant alliance forces would not be deployed in Eastern Europe. “However, at that time no one believed that no forces would be sent to Eastern Europe at all. I believe that this should be done now,” the minister said. The Zapad 2009 exercises caused concern in Poland. Sikorsky admitted that it is unclear “what message Russia wants to send to the world by conducting the largest exercises on NATO’s borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union.” The head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, has already responded to Sikorsky’s statement. In his opinion, such words could complicate relations between Russia and Poland; the minister’s statement “clearly falls out of the logic of the development of international relations in recent times,” when Russia’s relations with the United States and NATO have noticeably improved. “Statements that Russia can allegedly threaten Poland are unfounded. After all, references to conducting some kind of military exercises cannot be taken seriously. Such exercises have been carried out several times, including by NATO, on Polish territory. But we didn’t say that anyone was threatening us,” Kosachev said. And now, they say, Sikorsky is “trying to persuade the United States to revise the basic agreements between Russia and NATO, according to which it was stated that there would be no significant increase in armed forces on the territory of new NATO members.” He called on the Russian Foreign Ministry to respond to the statement of his Polish colleague.

On the same day, November 5, President Dmitry Medvedev said that decisions on the use of the Russian Armed Forces outside the country will be made only in extreme cases to protect Russians.