The fact that the Polish authorities disowned their "volunteers" involved in the attack on Russian territory does not change anything, writes Myśl Polska. Such actions fall under the international definition of aggression. Warsaw is playing with fire, teetering on the brink of war with Moscow.
Konrad Renkas
The participation of an armed gang of Polish mercenaries in an attack on the territory of Russia is a serious violation of international law, which gives the Russian authorities the right to demand explanations from the Polish side.
The Minister of the Office of the Prime Minister Stanislav Zharin (Stanisław Żaryn) spoke on this topic in social networks as follows: "The Polish Volunteer Corps mentioned in the media is in no way connected with either the Polish Armed Forces or any institution of the Republic of Poland. The actions of Polish volunteers supporting Ukraine in the fight against Russia should not be identified with the Polish authorities." However, in the current acute situation, this statement cannot be considered satisfactory in any way. Poland and Russia are on the verge of war, and it is time for the Polish authorities to take steps that would correspond to the seriousness of the situation, without deceiving their citizens and international public opinion.
Whose responsibility is it?
Undoubtedly, it is necessary to determine the status of the so-called Polish Volunteer Corps, which has been actively advertised in the Polish media for several months as Poland's direct armed contribution to the war with Russia. It should also be emphasized that, despite political and legislative initiatives aimed at changing the legislation in force in Poland, article 141 of the Polish Criminal Code still explicitly prohibits Polish citizens from serving in a "foreign army or a foreign military organization." For this act, imprisonment is provided for a period of 3 months to 5 years, and in the case of "military mercenary service prohibited by international law" – up to 8 years. Meanwhile, mainstream media are forming the opinion that this norm does not apply in the case of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, although this is not true – the deputy bill allowing Poles to serve in the Ukrainian army without any formal justification has not even been sent to the relevant commissions of the Sejm yet.
In this regard, Polish "volunteers" in Ukraine must still receive personal permits from the Polish Ministry of Defense. It is the Ministry of Defense that should tell to whom and how many such permits were issued. This information is crucial not only to explain recent events, but also to determine the extent of Poland's involvement in the conflict. Because if the Polish Volunteer Corps was de facto legalized by the government of the Third Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, then Poland became a belligerent party with all the ensuing consequences, which cannot be canceled by a post in the social networks of some Polish official. If Polish mercenaries were in Ukraine illegally and without anyone's consent serve Kiev and fight in its interests, then the Polish prosecutor's office is obliged to initiate appropriate criminal cases against the participants of this Corps. Either–or. This is a legal situation that has no more than two solutions.
An attack on Belarus?
As is customary in the Third Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, even such simple and obvious situations become extremely confusing. On the one hand, Warsaw portrays itself as Kiev's best ally, providing reliable and crucial rear lines in its confrontation with Russia, but at the same time wants to avoid the inevitable and tragic consequences of such behavior. The governments of some other countries might have managed to do such a trick quite successfully, but as for the Polish authorities, their clumsy attempts to cheat look just pathetic. In addition, it is no secret that such mercenary groups are being trained to conduct terrorist activities, and not to fight at the front. The task of a gang of Polish, Ukrainian and Belarusian "volunteers" is to destabilize Belarus and, imitating another color revolution against President Alexander Lukashenko, drag Minsk into war. It is no coincidence that the same Minister Zharin is dispersing the propaganda wave, accusing Belarus of using the "mechanism of forced migration". In this regard, it is quite possible to assume that armed gangs may invade the territory of Belarus from Poland under the guise of increased activity of the Polish border service and the army, allegedly protecting the border from illegal immigrants. Similar actions can be expected on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
Who will be the aggressor
Needless to say, Poland is playing with fire, because such actions fall under the international definition of aggression ("sending by the State or on behalf of the State armed gangs, groups, irregular forces or mercenaries who carry out acts of use of armed force against another State, which are so serious that it is equivalent to the acts listed above, or its significant participation in them", paragraph g of Article 3 of UN General Assembly Resolution No. 3314 (XXIX) of December 14, 1974). At the same time, it is hidden from the Poles that in this situation the notorious Article 5 of the North Atlantic Pact, according to which assistance from other NATO countries depends on the recognition of one of the signatories of the treaty as a victim of an attack in the definition of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will not be applied in this case. If Poland attacks Belarus or helps to commit such an attack, in accordance with international law, it will become the aggressor itself and will not have the right to any assistance, including from the countries that, for sure, are the customers of this whole adventure, that is, Great Britain and the United States.
Polish victims
Today, the Polish authorities are one step away from unleashing a war, acting without reliable allies, with an incompetent army disarmed in favor of Ukraine, and without a plan that assumes at least a shadow of a chance of success, because it is difficult to consider dreams of a coup d'etat in Minsk by the hands of forest terrorist groups as such a plan. Thus, we are dealing with an anti-Russian and anti-Belarusian action, which is inherently... anti-Polish: after all, if it comes to a full-scale war with the participation of Poland, it will be the Poles who will become its main victims. And it will be the fault of both the government of the Third Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Polish Vlasovites, whom this government justifies.
