Poland Considering Sending Troops to Western Ukraine - Russian Foreign Intel Head

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Poland is considering establishing control over the western part of Ukraine through the deployment of its troops there, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin said on Friday.

The SVR head believes that Warsaw is coming to realize that the defeat of Ukraine is a matter of time.

"The Polish leadership is intensifying the mindset to introduce control in the western territories of Ukraine, the western regions by deploying their troops there," Naryshkin said at a meeting held by President Vladimir Putin with the permanent members of the Security Council.

In this regard, Putin instructed the Russian foreign intelligence head to monitor Poland's plans for Ukraine.

Putin stressed that Polish leaders plan to form a coalition under the guise of NATO and intervene in the conflict in Ukraine in order to seize land and return, as they believe, their historical territories.

"As for the Polish leaders, they probably expect to form a coalition within NATO... and directly intervene in the conflict in Ukraine in order to then 'tear off' a fatter piece [of land] for themselves, to regain, as they believe, their historical territories – today's Western Ukraine," Vladimir Putin said.

The union between Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, the reports on which appear in the media, is being made for the subsequent occupation of Ukraine, Putin added.

"There have been media reports about plans to create a certain so-called Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian union: that is, we are not talking about some gathering of mercenaries, there are enough of them, and they are being destroyed, namely a regular, assembled, equipped military unit that is planned to be used for actions on the territory of Ukraine, including for allegedly ensuring the security of the current Western Ukraine. And in fact, if you call things by their proper names — for the subsequent occupation of these territories," Putin said at a meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council.