Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Poland’s western territories were a “gift from Stalin” and Poland should be grateful to the USSR for “restoring independence”, reports European truthand and Sky News.

During a meeting with permanent members of the Security Council, where Putin accused Poland of territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union on Friday, he said that “the western territories of modern Poland are Stalin’s gift to the Poles.”

• “I want to remind you what an aggressive policy Poland pursued in the past. This ended tragically in 1939, when Poland was abandoned by the Western Allies to the German war machine and effectively lost its independence and sovereignty, restored largely thanks to the USSR. Thanks to the Soviet Union and Stalin’s position, Poland received significant territories in the West, German lands. Yes, the western territories of modern Poland are Stalin’s gift to the Poles,” said the President of the Russian Federation.

The idea of ​​”territorial gifts” has previously been used to justify invasion

Earlier, he referred to the idea of ​​territorial “gifts” from the Soviet authorities to justify Russia’s annexation of Crimea, notes The Guardian.

“Now there is an obvious desire of Poland to invade the western part of Ukraine. This is the reason why Ukraine is not invited to NATO,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week in an interview with Al-Jazeera, News.ro reports.

Moscow has previously invoked the idea of ​​territorial “gifts” from the Soviet government to justify Russia’s annexation of Crimea, The Guardian reports.

Earlier, the speaker of the Russian State Duma stated that Poland should be punished for “betrayal of historical memory” about its liberation by the Soviet Union during the Second World War. In response, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called it “typical propaganda.”

The Kremlin and the President of Belarus Oleksandr Lukashenko have repeatedly stated that Poland poses a threat to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Poland, one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies, has supplied Kyiv with weapons and accepted refugees, but has shown no interest in sending troops to Ukraine – despite Putin’s claims to the contrary.

Instead, Poland strengthened its defenses on the border with Russia’s ally Belarus, where Wagner’s mercenary fighters moved after the failed uprising in Russia. The territory of Belarus, which borders Ukraine, as well as Poland and Lithuania, member states of the EU and NATO, became the launching pad for the Russian offensive against Ukraine.

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