Bipartisan leaders of the U.S. Helsinki Commission are pushing President Joe Biden to approve Warsaw’s proposed scheme to shoot down Russian missiles, according to a letter sent on October 28 obtained by The Hill.
The letter, sent by Representatives Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Steve Cohen of Tennessee, asked Biden “to grant Poland the authority to intercept and neutralize missiles over Ukraine, particularly those threatening to encroach upon Polish airspace.”
Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Poland and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for comment via email.
Newsweek also reached out The White House Deputy Press Secretary and to the U.S. Helsinki Commission for comment via email outside of business hours.
The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, is “a US government commission that promotes human rights, military security, and economic cooperation in 57 countries in Europe, Eurasia, and North America” which has nine commissioners who are “members of the Senate, nine are members of the House of Representatives, and three are executive branch officials,” according to its website.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski introduced the idea of extending the country’s air defense in an interview with the Financial Times in September.
Sikorski told the newspaper that Poland and other countries neighboring Ukraine have a “duty” to shoot down Russian missiles.
Speaking of NATO opposition to this, he said: “Membership in Nato does not trump each country’s responsibility for the protection of its own airspace — it’s our own constitutional duty.”
Sikorski continued: “I’m personally of the view that, when hostile missiles are on course of entering our airspace, it would be legitimate self-defense [to strike them] because once they do cross into our airspace, the risk of debris injuring someone is significant.”
When Sikorski’s idea was introduced in early September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that it was “part of discussions among NATO allies,” while former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg rejected the proposal, saying that it risked the intergovernmental military alliance “becoming part of the conflict.”
Current NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has not yet made a statement regarding Poland’s proposal.
In the letter, in their defense of Poland’s proposition, Wilson and Cohen wrote: “Russia’s war on Ukraine has already had tragic consequences for Poland. In November 2022, a missile strike in the village of Przewodow killed two Polish farmers. While this incident highlighted the proximity of the threat, it is clear that the risk to Poland remains high as Russian missile attacks near the border continue. The growing number of strikes in western Ukraine raises significant concerns about the potential for further casualties and escalation in the region.”
The two representatives then wrote that Sikorski’s mission is “defensive in nature” and would “bolster NATO’s deterrent posture, while demonstrating our collective resolve to defend the alliance against further Russian aggression.”
Wilson and Cohen also alleged that the U.S. and NATO have “exercised excessive restraint in response to Russian provocations” which “has only emboldened Russia to act more recklessly.”
Sikorski’s proposal came after a Russian drone landed in Poland in late August and Russian drones breached Romanian airspace during attacks on Ukraine.
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