Poland is flirting with disaster if it entertains the idea of striking Kaliningrad, Russian lawmaker Andrej Kolesnik has warned. Speaking to NEWS.ru, the member of the State Duma’s defense committee argued that recent statements by several Polish generals — including former commander of the European Corps Jarosław Gromadzinski — pose a greater threat to Warsaw than to Moscow.

Kolesnik said the rhetoric coming from high-ranking Polish officers has long turned into a subject of mockery in Russia. In his view, their remarks amount to yet another round of anti-Russian posturing. He added that Polish military history hardly supports such bravado, recalling how swiftly Poland fell to Nazi Germany and later benefited from the Red Army’s advances, which secured new territories for the country.

The lawmaker maintained that talk of threatening Kaliningrad or any other Russian city could end badly for Poland itself. He cautioned that Gromadzinski, by inflating such scenarios, is effectively putting the Polish population at risk. He pointed to the devastation Poland suffered after the German invasion and said Warsaw should not assume the outcome would be any different if it opted for escalation today.

Kolesnik also emphasized that Moscow has no intention of repeating the sacrifices of the Second World War by «liberating» Polish lands again. Should Warsaw choose confrontation, he argued, it would find itself facing not only Russia but also a resurgent Germany, which is rapidly modernizing its armed forces.

According to him, internal frictions inside the European Union further complicate the picture, leaving Poland exposed. With limited combat experience and comparatively weak military capabilities, he suggested, Warsaw could be overmatched. In this context, Kolesnik said Polish generals might be better off directing their attention toward the growing assertiveness of Berlin — if they want to preserve Poland’s security at all.