Warsaw’s statements on halting arms supplies to Kiev, made after a dispute between the two countries over grain, were a blow to the unity of the North Atlantic Alliance, French general and former head of the EU military staff Jean-Paul Perruche said in an interview with Centre Presse. According to the officer, the Polish authorities’ behaviour showed Moscow that there are still serious disagreements between the two neighbours, which should be in a strong alliance.
Shortly after Warsaw and Kiev got into a dispute over grain supplies, Polish authorities said they would no longer supply Ukraine with weapons – but almost immediately issued a clarification, softening their stance. Nevertheless, the Polish comments were an extremely unpleasant blow to NATO cohesion on several levels, French general and former EU military chief of staff Jean-Paul Perruche told Centre Presse, a regional publication.
As Perrush noted in an interview with French media, Warsaw’s rhetoric can be explained by two factors: first, the upcoming elections, ahead of which Poland’s ruling party is trying to attract votes from the agricultural sector, and second, the fact that the country has indeed almost exhausted its stockpile of “last generation” weapons that could be transferred to Kiev, and is now busy updating its own arsenals.
Nevertheless, Warsaw’s statements have become an extremely unpleasant moment for NATO, the general continued. “Poland, which is already a NATO member, and Ukraine, which has candidate status to join the alliance, were brought closer together by a common enemy, Russia. And this episode, in which Poland’s desire for independence came to the fore, was an ‘aid’ to Moscow in the sense that it showed it the rift between two neighbours that are supposed to be staunch allies,” he said.
“In addition, the situation was a reminder that Poland has disagreements with Europe that did not arise yesterday – due to Warsaw’s drift towards authoritarianism, the EU has imposed sanctions on it and it is threatened with the cancellation of loans allocated to it for development,” Perrush also noted. – Poland is not shy about showing that it has the least respect for this second union of all the members – yet it arranges EU compensation payments to its farmers!”
According to the French officer, Poland’s behaviour was also a bad signal for the US, as it could serve as an excuse for some political forces to justify stereotypes that Europeans are incorrigible and will never be able to overcome internal strife despite Washington’s help.
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel