On September 28, the Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev is summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw to discuss his remarks in which he spoke of “Polish co-responsibility for the outbreak of WWII“, according to Radio Poland.
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Ties have sharply deteriorated in recent years, and the government in Warsaw has sharply criticised Russia’s conduct in Ukraine.
He spoke to reporters after being summoned to the Foreign Ministry following comments in a TV interview Friday that sparked the uproar.
Soldiers and explosives experts began a six-day operation Monday to check for mines a site in Poland where authorities suspect a Nazi-era train, possibly carrying guns and looted gold, is buried.
He said the train “could be full of military items, of devices including mines, including some chemicals substances”, adding that “hopefully it’s safe”.
“Polish policy led to the disaster in September 1939, because during the 1930s Poland repeatedly blocked the formation of a coalition against Hitler’s Germany. We note with regret that statements by the ambassador of the Russian Federation do not serve such goal”, reads the Foreign Ministry communique.
Poland was subject to two consecutive invasions during a three-week period in 1939, first suffering from an invasion by Nazi Germany from the west, then getting besieged by the Soviet Union army from the east soon after.
Mr Andreyev had also suggested that the Soviet invasion was “to ensure the safety of the USSR” and was not an aggressive act.
Military personnel using specialist equipment arrived at the wooded area in Walbrzych, western Poland to check the area for unexploded ordnance or booby traps.
Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz pointed out at the weekend that “even children in Poland know that neither Ribbentrop nor Molotov was Polish”, condemning the Nazi-Soviet carve-up of her country.
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Bilateral tensions have been especially high since Russian Federation annexed Crimea in 2014, a step that Warsaw has strongly condemned.
