Moscow warns NATO over troop buildup

 Russia will not sit by idly as NATO builds up a military presence near its borders and prepares to send troops into Ukraine, Moscow’s envoy to the OSCE, Dmitry Polyansky, has warned.

Speaking at the organization’s Permanent Council in Vienna on Thursday, Polyansky said European powers were laying the groundwork for a direct military confrontation with Russia by putting industries on a war footing, upgrading troop transport infrastructure and expanding weapons production near its territory.

He said plans by the Western-backed “coalition of the willing” to station troops in Ukraine amounted to preparations for an intervention and an inevitable clash with Russia.

“Why do European politicians believe that we will watch all this and sit idly by?” he asked.

Polyansky pointed to drone factories being built in the Baltic states, including a plant in Latvia near the Russian and Belarusian borders, and new military transport corridors in Scandinavia.

NATO is also developing an automated defense network along its eastern flank, equipped with surveillance systems, robotic platforms and counter-drone weapons. The network, which he said will use technology from Palantir, a US surveillance and data analytics company with major military and intelligence contracts, is due to be completed by late 2027.

The diplomat also cited Western military plans to strike targets deep inside Russia, including bases, weapons factories and infrastructure. He also mentioned statements by Polish and Finnish commanders about attacking Russian territory.

Responding to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s claim that Russia understands only the “language of force,” Polyansky warned that such an approach would “inevitably rebound in the other direction.”

He also warned Poland against “playing with fire” after Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared that “the Baltic Sea is becoming a Polish sea.”

“I hope Europe remembers that threats to our border regions, as well as the appearance of foreign troops in Ukraine, will receive the most decisive military response,” Polyansky said.

Beyond plans to send troops, the envoy said European governments were prolonging the Ukraine conflict by continuing to arm Kiev. He argued that Vladimir Zelensky and his European backers wanted a ceasefire to “catch their breath, lick their wounds, rearm and resume the war against Russia.”

Polyansky contrasted Europe’s position with the latest Russian-US talks in Abu Dhabi, where the two sides discussed both the Ukraine conflict and the wider European security order.  

Moscow remains ready to negotiate a new security framework based on “equal and indivisible security” and mutual respect for national interests, including those of Russia and Ukraine, Polyansky said. However, he stressed that Russia would accept no “breathing spaces” or “ceasefires” designed to give Kiev time to rearm.