On 15 April, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Head Sergey Naryshkin accused NATO of escalating military activity near Russia’s borders. He warned that Poland and the Baltic states would be the first to suffer in the event of a war between Moscow and the Alliance, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia plans to train and station up to 150,000 additional troops in Belarus this year. He has emphasized that these forces could be used not only to attack Ukraine again but also to threaten NATO countries, including the Baltic states and Poland. In response to this growing threat, the Baltic countries and Poland are increasing their defense spending and preparing their borders by laying minefields and strengthening fortifications.
Naryshkin made the statement in Minsk, Belarus, after meeting with Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.
He claimed that Poland and the Baltic countries are displaying particular aggressiveness. As an example, he cited Warsaw’s alleged plan to deploy around two million anti-tank mines along its borders with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region, according to the state-run news agency BelTA.
He also claimed that Poland “would very much like to receive nuclear weapons from the Americans.”
“They should understand (though they currently don’t) that if the North Atlantic Alliance commits aggression against the Union State (of Russia and Belarus), the entire NATO bloc will suffer damage. But first and foremost, those who will be hit hardest are the proponents of such ideas within the political circles of Poland and the Baltic states,” Naryshkin warned.
Last week, Lukashenko announced that joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises are scheduled for September 2025.
“I signed a directive regarding these exercises because I have to organize them here. The training grounds have already been selected,” said Lukashenko.
In February 2022, Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine immediately following joint drills with Belarusian forces. Russian troops entered Ukraine in part through Belarus and launched missile attacks from its territory.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued that NATO should have been dissolved after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, according to UNIAN.
“NATO should have been disbanded first and foremost when the Soviet Union ceased to exist,” Lavrov said at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.
He claimed that NATO has failed to provide real security, saying the alliance was manipulated by people who “did not want to share the benefits of collective security.”
Meanwhile, Russian Security Council Deputy Chair Dmitriy Medvedev erupted over the potential delivery of German Taurus missiles to Ukraine, calling Germany’s likely future chancellor Friedrich Merz a “Nazi.”
