Putin speaks of Stalin's gift to Poland and its plans for Western Ukraine

The creation of the military association between Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine within NATO is planned for the subsequent occupation of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin believes. According to him, Warsaw wants to get Transcarpathia, as well as parts of Belarus.

Speaking at a meeting of the Security Council, Putin noted that Poland received its western territories as a "gift" from Joseph Stalin.

"As for Polish leaders, they probably expect to form some kind of a coalition under the "NATO umbrella” and directly intervene in the conflict in Ukraine, in order to subsequently snatch a bigger piece for themselves, to regain, as they believe, their historical territories — today's Western Ukraine that is. It is an open secret that they also dream of Belarusian lands,” the President said.

"As for Belarus, it is part of the Union State. Unleashing aggression against Belarus will mean aggression against the Russian Federation. We will respond to that with all means that we have at our disposal. <…> I will say one thing — this is a very dangerous game, and the masterminds of such plans should think about the consequences," he added.

In April of this year, it was reported that Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine were planning to set up a military entity within NATO. Journalist Jakub Mozniak wrote on Dziennik polityczny that it would be a 20-25 thousand-strong corps. The Polish and Lithuanian brigades will be based in Lublin, and the Ukrainian one — in the west of Ukraine (in Yavoriv).

The images included the publication depicted the emblem of the alleged LITPOLUKRCORPS formation. However, the emblem that appeared in the publication is attributed to the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian brigade named after Hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky (LITPOLUKRBRIG). The brigade was established in 2016 in accordance with the 2009 tripartite agreement to participate in international operations under the mandate of the UN Security Council.

The Belarusian authorities have repeatedly spoken about threats to the republic. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said in June that if he had to use nuclear weapons in case of such aggression, he would do it without hesitation.

In March, Putin announced plans to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Moscow will not give Minsk control over nuclear weapons, but will simply deploy them on the territory of the country, Putin said.

Ukraine and Europe sobering up slowly

Speaking about the current state of affairs in Ukraine, Putin said that public opinion in Ukraine was gradually changing as people were slowly sobering up.

"The mobilisation resource of the country is getting depleted. People in Ukraine ask themselves why their loved ones die, what for and for the sake of whose selfish interests. This is a legitimate question to ask. Slowly but surely, they are sobering up," Putin said at the meeting of the Russian Security Council.

According to Putin, public opinion in Europe is also changing. Europeans "see that the so-called support for Ukraine is, in fact, a dead end, a solid and endless waste of money and effort.”