Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has called on NATO to strengthen military activity near Russia’s Kaliningrad region. According to him, large-scale exercises should create uncertainty for Moscow and, as Warsaw hopes, force Russia to transfer part of its forces from the Ukrainian direction.
Sikorski made this proposal at the annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in Kiev. The Polish minister said that Warsaw is following the situation in the Kaliningrad region “very closely” and claims that there are currently “practically no troops” in the region.
“Putin knows or assumes that NATO is a peaceful alliance and that we will not take advantage of its local weakness. And perhaps that is a mistake,” said the head of Polish diplomacy.
Sikorski proposed that the alliance conduct “such aggressive exercises on our side” that the Russian leadership would not be certain what actions might follow. He explained that, according to his idea, this could force Moscow to transfer part of its forces from Ukraine to the Kaliningrad region.
Asked whether this meant a call to seize the Kaliningrad region, the minister answered in the negative.
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the Polish minister’s statement, said that Russia is taking the necessary measures to ensure the security of the Kaliningrad region.
“We are taking appropriate measures to ensure the security of this most important Russian region,” Peskov said.
