"We've known about contemporary Russia and Putin's intentions for a long time - but no one listened to us."
Poland's US Ambassador MarekMagerowski said this remarkable sentence earlier this week in the American news program »PBS News Hour«.
Magerowski expressed what many Poles fear and what many observers of the war in Ukraine now suspect: If Ukraine falls, Poland will be Putin's next target.
Also on Monday, Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian prime minister and current deputy head of the Russian Security Council, published a harsh tirade on Telegram programmatically titled "About Poland."
Insults as puppets of the West
"Polish propaganda is the most evil, vulgar and shrill criticism of Russia, it is a gang of imbeciles," he wrote there, and also that Polish politicians are only puppets of the West.
Is Russia planning an attack on NATO member Poland if Ukraine is conquered?
more on the subject
Russia experts on the consequences of the Ukraine war: »This war will continue in western Ukraine and possibly also in Poland« An interview by Christian Esch, Maximilian Popp and Christoph Scheuermann
Polish security expert on the invasion of Ukraine: »Russia must come out of this war defeated« An interview by Jan Puhl
"Poland clearly expects to become the target of Russian aggression at some point, and not just since the invasion," explains Jan Puhl, SPIEGEL's Poland expert.
"Most security experts don't imagine that after Ukraine, Putin will rush west to Poland, but rather that it will be a longer process and that an important component of this westward reach is to be in Ukraine to fix."
Poland resolutely opposes Putin
So Poland fears that the West could lean towards a compromise with Russia to permanently control parts of Ukraine as the war drags on.
And thereby gain the opportunity to gather his troops for the next attack.
In Putin's war, Poland has become a leading voice in the West when it comes to opposing Putin.
Not only, but also because Germany's neighboring country in the east has so far taken in the most refugees from the Ukraine: two thirds of all people fleeing from there have fled to Poland.
“Before the war, one had the impression that Poland was moving away from the West.
For example, there was a dispute with the EU about the rule of law," says Jan. "Now Poland is the pacesetter, and we're rightly proud of that.
One has the feeling that historical experiences are no longer ignored.
In the Second World War, Poland was not only a victim of the Germans, but also a victim of the Soviet Union.
How does Putin's war affect Poland's position in the EU?
How can the eastern flank of the EU be secured?
And how likely is a Russian attack on Poland?
This episode of the foreign podcast "Eight Billion" is about these questions.
Listen to this episode here:
