A brazen physical attack on the top Polish diplomat in Russia on a city street in St. Petersburg Nov. 16, followed by media coverage backing the attack, show how Moscow’s murderous war on Ukraine is increasingly roiling ties across Europe. Moscow’s relations with Warsaw, and with other European powers, have sharply deteriorated in recent months.
Krzysztof Krajewski, Poland’s ambassador to Russia, was assaulted as he and Consul Jaroslaw Strycharsky were walking to join local Polish community members in a celebration of Poland’s Independence Day.
Ten people carrying anti-Polish and anti-Ukraine signs surrounded the diplomats, aggressively denouncing Warsaw’s support for Ukraine’s determined battle to defend its sovereignty and its defensive military buildup. Some shouted, “Our children are dying because of your money.” Several struck at the ambassador before his security detail intervened.
Russian media accused the Polish security agents of aggressive behavior toward “a peaceful group of demonstrators,” ignoring the attempted physical assault on Poland’s top diplomat.
A Russian television report cynically entitled “Warm Welcome” claimed the protesters were “social activists.” It said these “concerned citizens” were asking why “Polish authorities pursue a policy of double standards: on one hand declaring a desire for peace, while on the other financing and arming Ukraine.”
Threat of wider war
The attack comes on the heels of a number of other provocations by Russian President Vladimir Putin against Poland. A couple of days earlier, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk denounced “an unprecedented act of sabotage” that had almost caused a deadly passenger train derailment. A Nov. 14 explosion had damaged the rail line between Warsaw and Lublin, a key supply route for military aid to Ukraine.
The Polish government announced the deployment of 10,000 soldiers to protect critical infrastructure. It also ordered the closure of the last Russian Consulate, in Gdansk, leaving only the Russian Embassy in Warsaw.
Earlier, a wave of Russian drones had flown over Polish territory from Belarus Sept. 10, a dangerous provocation the Kremlin claimed was simply a case of drones “straying” from attacks aimed at cities in western Ukraine. For the first time, NATO jet fighters were scrambled, using live fire to down the drones inside alliance airspace. Moscow has carried out similar drone intrusions elsewhere, causing disruption and testing the military preparedness of its opponents in the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
These new threats, coming amid the ongoing military rearmament by all regimes in Europe, are a reflection of how Moscow’s Ukraine war and the efforts of the capitalist rulers in Europe to defend themselves and their place in the imperialist pecking order threaten a new world war.