Moscow’s denials were almost immediate after the death of two people in eastern Poland on Tuesday evening November 15. The Russian Defense Ministry said in the aftermath: The statements of the media and politicians about the fall of Russian missiles on the territory of Poland are a deliberate provocation for the purpose of escalation “. Before the Kremlin salutes above all the caution of the United States.
With our correspondent in Moscow,
It was before Joe Biden’s statements excluding Russian responsibility for what happened in Poland, when the tension was still at its peak. “ Who benefits from the event? » The very legitimist Komsomolskaya Pravda answered this morning this question that she had asked herself by first listing kyiv then, countries in the first instance in the sights of Russia, Poland and the United Kingdom. Chairman of the Russian Foreign and Defense Policy Council, Fyodor Lukyanov, quoted in Kommersant, he believed that ” the countries of central and eastern Europe are in the front line here. This increases the risks, to put it mildly “. The pro-conflict Telegram channels known as “Z” did not mention the two deaths in Poland but quipped in unison on “ the destruction of a Polish tractor as the cause of a 3rd World War “.
No open confrontation in sight between Russia and the West, judged last night the online newspaper The Bell for which ” it is not essential to know what really happened on Polish soil. As with the Boeing Malaysian airlines crash over the Donbass in 2014; Russia will be held responsible “. And the newspaper to recall: this tragedy caused the heaviest sanctions before 2022 », before adding that « this incident will certainly aggravate the conflict “.
In a few hours, the atmosphere changes and the contours of what happened become clearer. While NATO is still in an emergency meeting in Brussels, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in his daily press briefing: “ We would like to emphasize that our high-precision strikes were delivered only on the territory of Ukraine and at a maximum distance of 35 kilometers from the Ukrainian-Polish border. Photographs of the wreckage found in the village of Przewoduv, published on the evening of November 15 in Poland, were unambiguously identified by Russian experts of the military-industrial complex as elements of an anti-aircraft guided missile of the system S-300 air defense aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force. The statements of various Ukrainian sources and foreign officials that Russian missiles fell in the village of Przewoduv are a deliberate provocation with the aim of aggravating the situation. »
US President Joe Biden had previously informed G7 and NATO members that he believed Tuesday’s explosion in Poland was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile strike, which the Kremlin spokesman said: ” There was no reason to escalate. You understand that the Poles had all the means at their disposal to immediately report that these were the remains of the S 300 anti-aircraft missiles. And all the experts would have understood that it could not be a Russian armed forces missile. »
And to add: I would like to invite you once again to pay attention to the rather restrained reaction of the Americans, which contrasted with the absolutely hysterical reaction of the Polish side and a number of other countries. How did we get here ? The question should be raised in Warsaw and Polish officials should be asked to show more restraint and balance when talking about such sensitive and potentially dangerous topics. »
A change of climate
Denounce “ hysteria and russophobia of the countries which, in his eyes, concluded too quickly that he was responsible, he is a classic figure in the Kremlin’s rhetoric. Saluting the restraint and professionalism of the United States is also a hollow reminder of Moscow’s lack of consideration for Warsaw and, of course, kyiv and its leaders: Volodymyr Zelensky is never described on Russian television as “president of the ‘Ukraine’. To press on the divisions of the West, it is finally an exercise in which Russia is broken.
This debate and this very strong international tension on the person responsible for the events in Poland also make it possible to focus less attention on the deluge of fire in Ukraine on Tuesday. Question from the BBC this morning to Dimitri Peskov: If there had been no Russian strikes on Ukraine, there would have been no incident in Poland. Isn’t Russia to blame? Response from the Kremlin spokesperson: No… Russia has nothing to do with it “.
The spokesperson says, not knowing if special communication channels between Washington and Moscow have been activated, but this mere mention of ” possible channels comes in a climate that has begun to change. Russian television, since Monday, began to talk about peace talks. Always to show the muscles and affirm not to want to yield anything, but it is new and could also look like a timid beginning of preparation of the opinion for a diplomatic phase.