Peskov Shouldn’t Have Been Surprised By Tusk’s Defence Of The Nord Stream Sabotage

By Andrew Korybko

Simply put, it’s par for the course for European leaders to support all actions – including terrorism – aimed against Russia, and especially so in Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently quipped that “those who built this pipeline should be ashamed, and not those who put it out of operation” in response to an alleged suspect in Ukraine’s supposed bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines being detained in Croatia at Germany’s request. Berlin believes that Kiev ordered that terrorist attack while Moscow insists that it was Washington. A different Ukrainian suspect wasn’t deported from Poland late last year for the reasons that were explained here.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Tusk shortly after as follows: “If Mr. Tusk advocates for and supports such acts of terrorist sabotage, it can only evoke astonishment and incomprehension.” He shouldn’t be surprised in the least, however, since Tusk’s quip about Nord Stream was for domestic political purposes and fully aligns with the national discourse. His ruling liberal coalition is poised to lose power in fall 2027’s next Sejm elections and few issues rally Polish voters like political Russophobia.

While Poles have soured on Ukraine and approximately half of the electorate is now against that country to varying extents, a whopping 96% of them disapprove of Putin per a Gallup poll from January. Most Poles, just like their ruling duopoly, also feared that Nord Stream would serve to solidify a future Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact at their country’s expense and were accordingly against that megaproject. They thus naturally cheered its destruction in September 2022 regardless of whoever was responsible.

Tusk’s exploitation of the latest Nord Stream news to take a political jab at Russia was therefore predictable even if one disagrees with what he said or his motive for saying so. Peskov himself has commented on European leaders’ political Russophobia countless times so it’s surprising that he was “astonished” by this and considers it “incomprehensible”. Simply put, it’s par for the course for European leaders to support all actions – including terrorism – aimed against Russia, and especially so in Poland.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned Tusk’s rival, conservative President Karol Nawrocki, earlier in August for using a Russophobic slur during a speech and for also reaffirming his country’s policy of helping Ukraine kill Russians “as long and as effectively as possible.” Russophobia in Poland, both its ethnic and political manifestations, was thus being discussed by the Kremlin just two weeks prior to Tusk’s quip about Nord Stream so the latter shouldn’t have surprised Peskov at all.

Nevertheless, Zakharova was recently surprised by a US-approved Turkish-Ukrainian arms deal despite Turkiye being one of Russia’s oldest rivals due to it “aspiring to play a special role in settling the Ukraine crisis”, so it’s not unprecedented for Russian officials to be out of the loop. For as worrying as this may be, and it’s indeed a credible cause for concern among Russia’s supporters, she and Peskov are only spokespeople. If they were policymakers, however, then their surprise would be extremely troubling.

All in all, observers should brace themselves for more manifestations of political – and possibly ethnic – Russophobia from Polish politicians ahead of fall 2027’s next Sejm elections as each half of its ruling duopoly fiercely competes with the other for control over parliament. Russophobia is a crude but effective means of rallying Polish voters so it would be surprising for politicians not to exploit it. To be clear, an explanation isn’t an excuse, but this should be common knowledge for even casual observers.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Voice of East.

Categories: Analysis, Geopolitics, International Affairs

Tags: EU, Europe, Germany, NATO, Nord Stream, Nord Stream 2, Poland, Russia, Russophobia, Turkey, Turkiye, Ukraine, USA