Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov has warned that Russia is poised to "destroy" Poland as tensions between Moscow and its European neighbors continue to rise amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Solovyov, a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the host of a popular state television program, suggested during a recent broadcast that European nations would not "understand" Russia's dominance of the continent until the decision is made to "smash Europe's face," according to a translated clip shared on Friday by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko to X, formerly Twitter.
After vowing the Russia would never "leave" or "negotiate" with Europe, Solovyov turned his attention to Poland, a strategically located NATO member state that has recently bolstered its defenses to prepare for the possibility that Russia's war in Ukraine could expand. Solovyov asserted that while Russia feels "sorry for" its "brothers" in Ukraine, Moscow would show no hesitation in wiping out Polish cities "in an instant."
"Do the Poles want to be next? They are not Ukrainians," Solovyov said, according to Gerashchenko's translation. "We will not treat them like brothers. We'll bloody destroy all those cities in an instant, without using ground troops. It's Ukraine we feel sorry for, but there [in Poland] we'll fight like the Americans in Iraq.
"We will simply, I am not sure about nuclear strikes, but with missile strikes and air strikes, I am sure, we will just freaking destroy them," he continued. "And we won't even think twice."
A spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of National Defense said in an email to Newsweek that "the war waged by the Russian Federation in Ukraine goes beyond military operations," while arguing that opinions aired on Russian state television "are essentially an element of aggressive disinformation activities carried out in the public space."
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Polish Ministry of National Defense via email on Friday.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said during an interview with the newspaper Super Express earlier this month that Poland was ready to defend itself against Russian military aggression in "all scenarios."
"I think all scenarios are possible, and I take the worst ones very seriously," Kosiniak-Kamysz said, according to a translation from Ukrainska Pravda. "That's what a defense minister's role is in our current circumstances...We have to be prepared for anything."
Tensions between Moscow and Warsaw may have increased earlier this month when NATO announced that it was planning to open a joint training center with Ukraine in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the new center would provide "a framework" for troops from the Ukrainian military "to train alongside NATO allied troops."
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, responded to the development in a statement emailed to Newsweek, saying that "such actions of NATO do not promote security on the continent" and instead "increase tensions."
Solovyov has earned a reputation for making hyperbolic statements, particularly since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. He has suggested on more than one occasion that Moscow should launch nuclear strikes on countries that back Ukraine and has claimed that NATO countries are preparing for a "big war" with Russia.
Update 2/28/24, 3:37 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from the Polish Ministry of National Defense.
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
