Poland: Russia’s Most Dangerous Opponent In Europe

“Moscow’s “blacklist” of European political figures who now will be denied entrance to the Russian Federation suggests that in the view of the Kremlin, Poland is Russia’s “most dangerous opponent” in Europe ,” according to Andrey Illarionov,” Euromaidan Press reports.

The blacklist was revealed by Russia to European diplomats last week. It included past and current politicians who have openly criticized the war in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The list has been carefully scrutinized by Illarionov who presented his findings in a blog post. The analyst suggests the following:

1. The data show that “the Kremlin has declared war on a significant part of the contemporary European political elite.”
2. Moscow is attacking Europeans across the political spectrum.
3. The list reflects the Kremlin’s worldview in that there is a fundamental divide between “the frontline states (the Baltic countries, the Scandinavian countries, Poland and Romania)” which Moscow sees as its opponients and the rest of Europe with the former far more penalized than the latter, which it believes can be its allies.

Illarionov notes that 11 EU member countries:

1. Austria,
2. Hungary,
3. Slovakia,
4. Croatia,
5. Slovenia,
6. Italy,
7. Malta,
8. Cyprus,
9. Portugal,
10. Luxemburg and
11. Ireland

do not have anyone on the list.

On the other hand Poland has the most, 18 names.

Earlier this week, Tomasz ‎Siemoniak, Minister of National Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, said his country must be prepared for the situation to deteriorate further, and for Russia to expand its ambitions beyond the annexation of Crimea.

“We can see that Russia is going in the direction of restoring the influence it had at the time of the Soviet Union,” Siemoniak said.

“If that is the case then the situation is not over by any means with Crimea and it will move on to the territories of other countries, that will either be targeted by aggression or by some other measures taken by the Russian federation, so we have to be ready.‎”

Currently Poland is undertaking an ambitious rearmament programme, attempting to overhaul its dependence on ageing Soviet-era equipment by 2022.

On June 3rd, EMerging Equity asked Stanislaw Koziej, the Head of the National Security Bureau of Poland, about the main directions of the Polish Armed Forces modernization. Mr Koziej indicated the following areas as good priorities of the modernization:

• anti-air defence missile systems
• military transport helicopters supporting mobility
• computerized combat/battle systems

Also the Polish military base in Szczecin which has been NATO’s easternmost headquarters for over a decade is set to double in size, becoming the focal point for the alliance’s eastern defenses.