Poland summons Russian ambassador as Warsaw hardens response to Kremlin threats

Poland summoned the Russian ambassador Tuesday and demanded an immediate end to Moscow’s “illegal and unjustified aggression,” in one of Warsaw’s sharpest diplomatic interventions in recent months.

It is a sign of growing sensitivity about Russian rhetoric beyond the battlefield.

The move came after Russian warnings that Polish officials described as unacceptable and potentially extending beyond military targets in Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Maciej Wewior said Georgiy Mikhno had been told that Poland rejects Russian threats and expects Moscow to comply with international law.

“There cannot be our consent to this,” Wewior told the Polish News Agency, or PAP.

He added that if Russia insists it is conducting a “special military operation” rather than a war, then, by Moscow’s own logic, military objectives should remain strictly limited.

The intervention reflects a broader hardening of Poland’s position toward Russia, and comes at a sensitive moment in regional security, with Warsaw increasingly framing Russian language and signaling as part of a wider pressure campaign against NATO’s eastern flank.

Summoning an ambassador is one of the strongest diplomatic tools available short of formal sanctions or expulsions, and is used to signal that rhetoric is being treated as a matter of national security.

Recent examples include Poland’s warnings about Russian threats linked to diplomatic presence in Kyiv and support for Ukraine, as well as stronger public messaging after a series of incidents around NATO’s eastern flank. Poland joined other European governments earlier this month in condemning Russian warnings directed at foreign diplomats and civilians in Kyiv, with several EU states summoning Russian representatives.

Polish officials have also increasingly framed Russia’s actions through the language of hybrid pressure rather than conventional diplomacy. In recent months, Warsaw has pointed to sabotage risks, disinformation campaigns and pressure on infrastructure as evidence that competition with Moscow extends well beyond the battlefield.

The harder tone intensified after security incidents linked to Russia’s military activity around NATO territory, including drone incursions and growing concern in Poland and the Baltics that testing of allied resolve has become part of Moscow’s operating logic.

For Poland, the diplomatic message increasingly appears to be that Russian threats will now receive public responses, and, where possible, collective European ones, rather than quiet diplomatic protest.