MOSCOW. July 21 (Interfax) - The plans to form a Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian military unit are aimed at the subsequent occupation of Western Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"The matter is not about some gathering of mercenaries, - there's enough of them there, and they're being neutralized, - but specifically about a regular, put-together, equipped military unit, which they are planning to use in actions in the territory of Ukraine," Putin said at an ad-hoc meeting with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council.
"Including, in allegedly ensuring security of the modern Western Ukraine, and in reality, if to call things by their proper names, in the subsequent occupation of these territories. Because the prospects are clear, if Polish units enter, for instance, Lvov or other territories of Ukraine, they will stay there. And they will stay there forever," he said.
Such actions "won't be anything new," Putin said.
"Let me remind you that after the defeat of Germany and its allies at the end of the First World War, Polish units gained control of Lvov and the adjacent areas owned by Austria-Hungary at the time. Poland, abetted by the West, also used the tragedy of the civil war in Russia and annexed some historically Russian governorates. Our country, in a dire situation at the time, was forced to sign the Treaty of Riga in 1921 and effectively recognize the rejection of its territories. And even earlier, in 1920, Poland seized a part of Lithuania, the Vilnius region, the territory around present-day Vilnius. They appeared to have fought together with the Lithuanians against so-called 'Russian imperialism' and snatched a chunk of land from their neighbors immediately, as soon as they got an opportunity," the president said.
Poland also participated in the division of Czechoslovakia as a result of the Munich Agreement with Hitler in 1938, fully occupying Teschen Silesia, Putin said.
"I would also like to remind you how such an aggressive policy ended for Poland. It ended in the national tragedy of 1939, when Poland was left by its Western allies to be 'devoured' by the German military machine, and effectively lost its independence and statehood, which were reinstated to a great extent thanks to the Soviet Union," he said.
"Specifically, thanks to the Soviet Union, to Stalin's stance, Poland received sizable lands in the West, Germany's lands," he said.
"It's true that the western territories of present-day Poland are a gift from Stalin to the Poles. Did our friends in Warsaw forget about it? We'll remind them, then," the Russian president said.
"The Polish authorities, hatching their revanchist plans, are also not telling the truth to their own people," Putin said. "And the truth is that Ukrainian cannon fodder is clearly not enough for the West, and they are planning to use new expendables, the Poles themselves, the Lithuanians, and those further down the list, those whom they do not care about. It's a very dangerous game, and the masterminds behind such plans need to think about the consequences," he said.