Polish PM Calls Nord Stream 2 'Weapon' Of Hybrid Warfare
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says Russia's planned natural-gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, is a weapon of hybrid warfare that Moscow wants to use to undermine European energy security and the solidarity of the European Union and NATO.
Morawiecki said at a NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Warsaw on May 28 that Nord Stream 2 is "a poison pill for European security, which can have far-reaching consequences."
Nord Stream 2 is a controversial project that would expand the current Nord Stream pipeline, which passes along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to deliver Russian gas to Germany.
The United States, Poland, the Baltic states, and several other EU countries have expressed concern about Nord Stream 2 -- which avoids existing gas pipelines through Ukraine -- and the added leverage on energy security it could give Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Washington's opposition to Nord Stream 2 stems from President Donald Trump's desire to encourage exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas.
Earlier at the assembly, Polish President Andrzej Duda also issued a warning about Russian intentions in Europe.
"With regret, it must be said that Moscow has never come to terms with the collapse of the imperial Soviet Union. The invasion of Georgia and the unlawful annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine illustrate the real intentions of Russia," Duda said, in reference to the Russia-Georgia war of 2008, Russia's illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, and Moscow's support for pro-Russia separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.
Based on reporting by AP, CTK, and EuroZpravy.cz
Five Former Presidents See Threat In Rising Polish-Ukrainian Tensions
Five ex-presidents from Poland and Ukraine have issued a joint appeal for reconciliation between their countries amid growing nationalism and provocations from Russia that have strained their relations.
The ex-presidents expressed concerned about the strains, saying that unity is now needed given "the challenge of Russian aggression to Ukraine."
The appeal was presented at a May 28 news conference in Warsaw by the two former Polish presidents, Aleksander Kwasniewski and Bronislaw Komorowski.
It also was signed by former Ukrainian presidents Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, and Viktor Yushchenko.
Poland for years was one of the strongest advocates in the European Union and NATO for bringing Ukraine into the Western fold. That position infuriated Moscow.
But Polish-Ukrainian ties have been strained recently over disagreements rooted in historical grievances.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
Russia seeks 14-year term for Ukrainian journalist accused of spying:
By RFE/RL's Russian and Ukrainian services
Russian prosecutors are seeking a 14-year prison term for Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, who is on trial in Moscow on espionage charges in a case viewed by rights activists as politically motivated.
"The prosecution asked 14 years [in prison] for Roman Sushchenko," his lawyer, Mark Feigin wrote on Twitter on May 28, saying in a separate tweet that the Moscow City Court will announce its verdict in the case on June 4.
Russia's TASS news agency quoted a source at Sushchenko's closed-door trial at the Moscow City Court as saying that the prosecutor asked for 14 years of imprisonment for the reporter in a maximum-security correctional facility.
Sushchenko, a Paris-based correspondent for the Ukrinform news agency, was detained in Moscow in 2016 on suspicion of collecting classified information.
He pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial in March.
Kyiv and rights activists say Russia has jailed several Ukrainians on trumped-up, politically motivated charges since Moscow seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and threw its support behind armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Feigin told the 112 Ukraine TV channel he did not rule out the possibility of Moscow wanting to exchange Sushchenko for the head of RIA Novosti's branch in Ukraine, Kirill Vyshinsky, who is accused by Ukrainian authorities of high treason.
That case has drawn harsh criticism from Moscow and expressions of concern from media watchdogs. (w/TASS)