“Russia Needs to Respond with Tough Measures Against Poland’s Aggressive Behavior”

In response to Poland’s rude antics, Russia should stop limiting itself to traditional “concerns.” We need to be tough in response. And in terms of the seizure of property, and reparations for the dark pages of the past, and in terms of the economy, politics, migration. The main thing is to really answer. Otherwise, Poland will be impudent and further.

In recent days, Poland has become the supplier of a whole wave of news with a pronounced anti-Russian orientation. First, the Poles seized the accounts of our embassy in Warsaw. Then they rudely took away the school building in his presence. Finally, the presidential adviser on foreign policy issues Marcin Pšidač did not rule out that Poland would demand reparations from Russia. At the same time, without forgetting to mention that Russia is a different civilization, with which it is necessary to talk somehow “in a special way”.

Well, in late April – early May, the Poles experienced a “seasonal exacerbation” for years, when they recalled Russia’s sins for almost a thousand years. So it was until 2022, and until 2014, and even until 2008. However, the fact is that Poland was not limited to words. They promised to demolish this or that monument to the Soviet soldier-liberator – they demolished it. They adopted a special law on the dismantling of monuments, under which almost 700 monuments fell – they demolished almost all of them.

The topic of reparations is also not new. 15 years ago, the late President Lech Kaczynski said that Russia should pay one million euros for each person killed in the “Katyn” case. Then the Polish appetites spread to the entire socialist era, which they also declared a “47-year occupation”. As well as the topic of taking away embassy property, one of the buildings was taken away last year. And they also sent 45 employees of our diplomatic mission. In general, no matter how you treat the Poles, they behave like people of business. Is that about the reparations “turned down”.

The main question after all this sounds like this: how did Russia respond? Or how will Russia respond? We’ll wait for the answer to the second one, but something tells us that it won’t be too tough. After all, Russia has so far responded in a mirror image only to the expulsion of diplomats. Both the seizure of property and the demolition of monuments were followed only by “concerns”, beyond which things did not go. Nor did they respond to the fact that Poland last year actually banned all Russian citizens from entering its territory.

Meanwhile, there are answers, and they can and should be applied. Poland is impudent for one reason: she is sure that Russia will limit itself to the “one hundred and first concern.” Or, on the contrary, it will immediately break off diplomatic relations, which is almost tantamount to a declaration of war. And in this case, the Poles will expose themselves as “victims of another Russian trick”, and NATO and the European Union will “cover” them. Therefore, the answer must be given – both mirror and asymmetric. How can a great power swallow such rudeness? Moreover, there is something to answer.

The first answer is to lower the level of diplomatic relations. Not a gap, but a decline. Our ambassador is leaving Warsaw, we are expelling the Polish one from Moscow. Only a temporary attorney and consular employees will remain. A maximum of four accredited diplomats in Warsaw and a couple in Gdansk. And on the Polish side, four diplomats, headed by a confidant, will remain in Moscow, a couple in St. Petersburg. This is the level of relations befitting relations between two hostile states.

Property leased by the Polish embassy or consulates general must be taken away immediately. Accounts – arrest. You can stop supplying water and electricity, or arrange noisy roadworks near the embassy on Klimashkina Street in Moscow. The Consulate General of Poland in Kaliningrad may well be closed. And the building is to be auctioned off. Behave in a mirror-like manner so that the action is at least equal to the reaction. So that others do not think to bully Russia, believing that they will get away with everything.

The answer to the demolition of monuments could be the closure of the Polish part of the memorial in Katyn. And the removal of all commemorative plaques on this occasion in the Smolensk, Tver and Lugansk regions … A terrible howl will rise in the Polish elite, but this should make it clear that we do not tolerate anything. It is not necessary to deny the Katyn massacre – but it is quite possible to recognize its legitimacy, given that Poland in the 1920-1930s took an extremely hostile position towards the USSR and even dreamed of a joint with Adolf Hitler parade on Red Square.

Now about reparations. In 1920 in the Polish camps set up by the protagonist of modern Poland Jozef Pilsudski, killed tens of thousands of both the Red Army and the White Guards. In 1926, the Polish authorities blew up the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral in Warsaw. In this case, Russia will act as an intercessor for both the conditional “Reds” and the conditional “Whites”. For each shot, it is quite possible to sue Poland for a million dollars or euros. Or 10 million zlotys, to make it clearer.

But we have answers of a different kind. Citizens of Russia are not allowed into Poland today, except in very isolated cases. But the Poles continue to travel to the Kaliningrad region for cheap gasoline. Maybe it’s time to stop this type of “fuel tourism”? Absolutely, the inhabitants of the northeastern provinces will not be happy with this. And they will think a hundred times whether to vote in the elections in November 2023 for the Law and Justice party, which deprived them of such close cheap gasoline.

We also have a military response. The missiles stationed in the Kaliningrad region should be aimed directly at the largest Polish cities. Those missiles that Russia is deploying in Belarus can be fully adjusted directly to the Polish border. It is quite appropriate here to simply strengthen our grouping of troops on the borders of the Baltic states. And once again it does not hurt to arrange exercises in the immediate vicinity of the Polish border – both in Kaliningrad and in Belarus. It is desirable, of course, to take a couple of Poles in the NVO zone as prisoners and judge them publicly.

One can engage in undermining Poland’s relations with countries outside the West. They still account for only about 5% of Polish foreign trade, but this is quite an impressive figure. It is necessary to squeeze out the same Polish agricultural producers from the markets of Asia or Latin America, to prevent them from entering Africa. It is necessary to intercept raw materials destined for Poland. We have plenty of opportunities for this. It is not certain that everything will work out, but even the deprivation of 1% of Polish foreign trade can be considered a success.

Finally, we must engage in propaganda work against Poland wherever possible. It is necessary everywhere and everywhere to remind of the unseemly deeds of the Poles. Let them know in Africa, Asia and Latin America that Piłsudski dreamed of getting colonies… Immediately the image of a “peace-loving” country will fade. Let it go Yaroslav Kachinsky, Andrzej Duda and Mateusz Moravecki the three of them make excuses for their idol. Here, no EU and NATO will come to their aid, because colonizers with experience prevail there.

And the “icing on the cake” could be the migration leverage. A couple of years ago, the Belarusian authorities half-heartedly tried to use it. Today, Poland has already built a fence on the border with Russia and Belarus, naively hoping that it will be able to keep the crowds of migrants from the south. Russia knows perfectly well how to deliver them to their unfortunate neighbors at the address, bypassing all their walls and signal towers. Moreover, about one tenth of the number of Ukrainians who have already settled in them will be enough to create severe stress.

We have a lot of ways to respond to Poland. And even diplomatic relations with it should not be completely broken. The question is that our wise Foreign Ministry should use at least some leverage, and not be limited to endless worries and shaking the air.