General Roman Polko: Russia threatens Poland and Belarus

The Polish general believes that the military training West-2013 bear a direct threat to Warsaw.

Roman Polko, who formerly headed Polish special mission unit GROM and was a deputy head of the Bureau for National Security of the country, said that in an interview to Polsat TV-channel (charter97.org’s translation).

The reason for the interview was the death of a sergeant Jan Kepura in Afghanistan. Roman Polko stated that a real threat for Poland comes from its closest neighbors in the East, and the country may need soldiers, who served in hot spots. In particular, the general noted that the military exercise West-2013 that will take place in Belarus in September, are of an “aggressive character” in regards to the neighboring NATO states. Roman Polko noted that the main threat is the presence of the Russian army in the territory of our country.

At the same time, in general’s opinion, even in the case of homecoming the Polish contingent, which is now taking part in foreign missions, will be unable to resist a possible adversary from the East, because the army lacks helicopters, for example.

“We have around 20% of battle capable forces, and we can show them abroad, The rest is a museum”, - the general emphasized.

Roman Polko told about a potential war and the capabilities of the Polish army also in an interview to Do Rzeczy weekly.

“We would not be capable of stopping Russia’s aggression. It is enough to look at the potential of the both armies. That is why the relations with NATO and strategic relations with the US must be so important to us”, - the general says.

In his words, if Poland was attacked from the East, the adversary’s troops would only delay along the Wisla line, but not because of effective resistance, but due to problems with logistics. At the same time he believes that one should not overestimate NATO’s capabilities, but rather hope for own efforts.

“The union has been created for all countries to use it. If Poland does not take care of its military forces, there will be no willing to help us”, - he says.

The former special mission unit’s commander noted that a classic military conflict like the Second World war is unlikely today, however one must not rule out certain actions, which could destabilized the situation in Poland, or the repetition of the “Georgian scenario”, when Russian army started military activities under the pretext of protecting separatists in the Caucasus state.

“Smaller scale operations look more likely, for example, special mission unit’s actions as terrorists in the territory of Poland. This causes the most worries with me. In the case of a “Georgian scenario” war we would not be able to protect our own territory, and the support would be rather symbolic. We must be prepared for such an option, because it is not ruled out. A conflict may arise, for example, on the basis of arguments and contradictions in the energy sphere”, - the general says.