Russia Issues Stark Warning to Ukraine's NATO Ally

Russia issued a stark warning to Poland on Monday over the NATO member's repeated proposals to down Russian missiles over Ukraine with its air defense systems.

Since March, Warsaw has mulled intercepting Russian missiles that go close to its borders during the war in Ukraine. Tensions have risen between Russia and Poland throughout the conflict, and Warsaw has been forced to scramble its fighter jets to protect its airspace during large-scale Russian missile strikes on its war-torn neighboring country.

Poland has said that Russian missiles fired at western Ukraine entered its airspace on multiple occasions. Russia has said incursions were accidental.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said in July that the proposal to down Russian missiles over Ukraine was first put forward by Kyiv, and that it was under consideration as part of a joint defense agreement signed by both parties. "At this stage, this is an idea. What our agreement said is that we will explore this idea," he said at the sidelines of a NATO summit.

Poland has been a member of the NATO military alliance since 2004.

Oleg Tyapkin, the head of the European department at the Russian foreign ministry, warned of its response if Poland attempts to intercept missiles over Ukraine, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.

If Poland "succumbs to an adventurous impulse and decides to attempt to intercept long-range weapons legally used by our armed forces to neutralize military threats emanating from Ukrainian territory to Russia, then the response to them will be adequate and quite concrete," said Tyapkin.

Newsweek reached out to the Polish Foreign Ministry and NATO for comment.

Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski told Ukrainian news outlet Ukrinform in late May that discussions on the matter began in Warsaw after a Russian missile fired at Ukraine in March entered its airspace. The Russian missile, which was traveling around 500 miles per hour at 1,200 feet altitude, entered Poland's airspace for 39 seconds near the village of Oserdow.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman ruled out the possibility of Poland sending Ukraine its air defense systems.

"There is no discussion of this in Poland at all. There is no possibility of the Polish air defense system being outside the country's borders," Wronski said at the time.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appeared to signal last month that the military alliance would ultimately oppose Poland intercepting Russian missiles over Ukraine.

"NATO will support Ukraine, and we have now increased our support...But NATO's policy is unchanged—we will not be involved in this conflict," he said, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

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