Poland does not overrule sending troops to west Ukraine - Russian diplomat

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Polish officials are saying that they will not be abandoning the possibility of deploying NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine, according to the Russian ambassador to Warsaw, Sergey Andreev.

"As for the idea of a peacekeeping operation, everything seems clear: Americans said that they would not deploy their troops, the NATO secretary-general said that NATO was not considering such an operation. However, [Polish] officials say that they are not giving up on the idea, they will think, see and so on," he said.

The ambassador remarked, "I do hope that common sense will prevail."

On March 24, Poland brought up the suggestion to deploy NATO peacekeeping troops to Ukraine's west to Biden. After the summit, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO will not go through with such a suggestion, as this may lead to full-blown conflict with Russia.

The ambassador, furthermore, said that it is highly unlikely that Poland and Russia would sever diplomatic relations - however, the Russian embassy to Poland will be closed for a while. 

"Probably it will not go as far as the breakup of relations. We might be forced to close our embassy here for a while, and of course, in this case, Poles will have to close their embassy in Moscow. Whatever happens, let’s wait and see," he said.

"Let us not exaggerate. It is hard for our servicemen in Ukraine, it is hard in other hot spots, but Poland is a peaceful country, we work in peaceful conditions," Andreev added. 

On Wednesday, Poland expelled 45 Russians over alleged accusations of "espionage". The allegation was immediately dismissed as "baseless" by the Russian Ambassador to Poland.