On December 29, a Russian missile crossed into Polish airspace, flying within it for nearly 40 km before vanishing from radar. Polish President Andrzei Duda spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the precedent.
The lack of response to such provocations is truly dangerous as a lenient attitude towards “unintentional” missile attacks by Russia further convinces Putin of Europe’s weakness and makes a Russian invasion of a NATO ally on the eastern flank of the Alliance only a matter of time.
Russian missile strikes affecting Poland have been recorded every few months: the initial precedent occurred on November 15, 2022 when a missile killed two Poles in the vicinity of the town of Przewodów. On Oct 5, 2023, the debris of a Russian Kh-55 cruise missile was found in the forest near Bydgoszcz. The Kremlin traditionally chooses to refrain from comment on such “unintentional attacks”: on December 29, Russia’s Charge d’Affaires in Poland, Andrei Ordash, demanded that Poland provide material evidence that would prove the missile had actually crossed into the Polish airspace. The Kremlin is testing the West’s reaction by turning countries located close to Russia into a situational testing ground: in addition to Poland’s incident, Russian drones crossed into the Romanian airspace.
Consequently, the West must give a consolidated rebuff to Russia in response to the acts of provocation. The Russian economy and military-industrial complex should face additional sanctions, which, in turn, will weaken Russia’s offensive potential. It is much easier to systematically weaken Russia than to fight its army on European soil.
This is the only article that I could find that touches on the subject of a too-weak response by NATO after yet another violation of NATO airspace; an obscure news provider from one of Europe’s smallest nations.
I don’t know what else it takes to get a bit more bite from this defensive alliance. As bad as the massive attack on Ukraine was, having another ruskie avion violate NATO airspace makes it even worse. This is not just a touch-and-go incident as happens hundreds of times every year with regular mafia aviation, which are bad enough, but these things (missiles, cruise missiles, drones) are packed with high explosives.
Once again, we are allowing mafia land to do as it pleases, and all our inglorious leaders can bring forth are deep concerns with raised fingers. The mafiosi are playing with fire, and we’re holding the match for them.
Maybe the Cyprus Daily News is not overdoing it when it claims that mafia land might be testing our resolve as part of an effort to one day bring war directly to NATO.
Doesn’t Poland have air defense?
^bert
They do. But, that’s not the point.
Hot air defense…