A Russian government newspaper said Europe’s condemnation of Moscow’s drones entering Polish airspace was a ploy to pressure U.S. President Donald Trump to abandon plans for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
An op-ed in Rossiyskaya Gazeta painted the global outrage around Russian drones breaching the NATO member’s territory as part of the “demonization” of Moscow, as it also accused Poland of “provocation” with its rhetoric.
Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Polish Foreign Ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
A diplomatic storm continues after Poland said it downed up to four of the 19 drones fired into its territory by Russia on Wednesday in the first engagement between a NATO member and Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Moscow rejected accusations that it intentionally targeted Poland and Kremlin propagandists have pushed the line that Russia is being unfairly accused, as NATO allies express concerns about an escalation in the war.
What To Know
Rossiyskaya Gazeta is the official Russian government newspaper and is thought to reflect Kremlin thinking.
An op-ed headlined, “Why Warsaw inflated a scandal over alleged Russian drones,” decried the accusations Moscow has faced from Poland and its allies.
The piece by Yuri Kogalov and Ivan Sysoev reiterated Moscow’s position that no strikes on Poland were planned, no explosives in the drones were found and there was no confirmation that the devices were even Russian.
The piece said Europe’s leaders “need an escalation of the Ukrainian conflict, a further demonization of Russia, and a reason to increase pressure on Trump to abandon efforts for a peaceful settlement.”
Other pro-Kremlin newspapers also took aim at the West, using the word “provocation” against Europe and Ukraine that Moscow is accused of.
A piece in Moskovsky Komsomolets was headlined “a big provocation in Poland—they are trying to turn the SMO [special military operation] into a pan-European war.”
It also said origin of the drones has not been proved and the controversy could suit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who wants the direct participation of the West in the war.
It said that Kyiv’s goal “is to force Trump to change his political course” and referred to U.S. Vice President JD Vance‘s comments on Wednesday that the administration saw no reason to isolate Russia economically. As such, Zelensky “desperately needs” Trump to make decisions “that he does not want to make at all,” the paper added.
On Russian state TV, 60 Minutes presenter Olga Skabeyeva said that Trump is more interested in economic deals with Russia than punishing it.
Kremlin mouthpiece, Izvestia, quoted military expert Viktor Litovkin as saying that the drones that entered Poland on Wednesday could have been a “provocation by Ukraine or one of the Baltic states.”
Another military expert, Alexei Leonkov, told the same paper that “the provocation was needed” so that Ukraine’s allies could pressure Trump to draw the United States back into the conflict, or at least provide Europe with security guarantees, which Moscow has rejected as part of any peace deal.
What People Are Saying
A Rossiyskaya Gazeta op-ed said Europe needs: “an escalation of the Ukrainian conflict, a further demonization of Russia and a reason to increase pressure on Trump to abandon efforts for a peaceful settlement.
“In their provocations for the sake of escalating the Ukrainian conflict, the West is raising the stakes.”
Military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia: “We work with high-precision weapons…and we have no reason to hit Poland.”
Another Kremlin-friendly newspaper, Moskovsky Komsomolets: “The Ukrainian authorities have tried in every possible way to force Western countries to take a direct part in hostilities with Russia almost from the very beginning of the [war].”
What Happens Next
Poland has called for a meeting with NATO officials after invoking Article 4 of the alliance’s charter and will review the incident and share the findings with its allies. Meanwhile, the fallout from the airspace breach continues to heighten tensions between Russia and the West.
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