Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski has said that the recent Russian simulation of nuclear attack and invasion of Poland was “an unfriendly act” and an untimely demonstration of force.

Poland’s foreign minister, currently on a three-day trip to Washington, was commenting on reports that the Russian troop manoeuvres in Belarus and Kaliningrad in September practiced amphibious landings on mock Polish territory, the suppression of an uprising by the Polish minority in Belarus and the use of nuclear weapons.  

"This was the largest military exercises on NATO’s eastern borders since the end of the Cold War. Russia was clearly sending a signal - Do you not realise we have a strong army?" Minister Sikorski said on Monday during a conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"In light of these exercises we support President Obama’s nuclear disarmament plan,” he added, referring to the planned extension of the agreement to reduce strategic nuclear weapons between the U.S. and Russia.

The conference at the Brooking Institution  - attended by Foreign Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, and the European Commissioner for International Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner - discussed the EU’s Eastern Partnership program, an initiative launched by Poland and Sweden in an attempt at closer integration between the 27-nation bloc and former Soviet nations such as Ukraine and Georgia.

Commenting on President Medvedev’s suggestion that the Eastern Partnership was aimed at isolating Russia’s influence in the region, Sikorski said: “The EU does not need Russia’s consent,” to proceed with the program.

Visa issue

On Wednesday, Minister Sikorski will meet with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to discuss the new missile program as recently suggested by President Obama’s administration. Poland is to take part in the new system, although this will not be in operation before 2018.

Though Minister Sikorski said that he will not be using the meeting with Hilary Clinton to raise the issue, the fact that Poles still have to apply for a visa before they can visit the US clearly grates with the Polish government.

Every seventh application for a visa by Poles is turned down. Washington argues that too many Poles still disappear off the radar once inside America.

“The US is perfectly aware of the Polish stand on the visa issue,” Sikorski said, when pressed on the matter. “This is very irritating to us. But the United States has a tradition of having tolerant attitude to [illegal] immigration from Mexico and Latin America and we respect this position,” he said, somewhat ironically. (pg)

source: PAP/IAR

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Russia simulated attack on Poland, thenews.pl, Oct 31