Leading German politician: if Russia invaded Poland, Germany would be at war with Russia

The guest of Onet.pl's "International Report" was Dietmar Nietan, German Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinator of German-Polish relations, Bundestag member and ruling SPDs's treasurer (member of the party's national leadership)

D. Nietan, in response to the podcast's presenter's question, whether in the event of Russia invading for example Estonia both Poland and Germany would be at war with Russia, and similarly whether Germany would be at war with Russia, had Russia invaded Poland, replied "absolutely." When asked about the status of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, he said that in his opinion the document was "dead".

The German politician also stated that Germany, taking into account the need to become independent from Russian energy resources, will have to look differently at coal, which is a factor of energy independence.

When asked about the supply of weapons from Germany to Ukraine, he stated that he understood how upset both Poland as well as other countries in the region were with the pace of these deliveries, but stressed that this was due to the fact that Germany had over many years neglected investments in German armed forces. Commenting on the issue of the supply of German tanks, which, according to President Andrzej Duda, were to be delivered to Poland in exchange for the tanks handed over by Poland to Ukraine, the representative of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that no specific arrangements had ever been made in this matter.

When asked about the status of former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the SPD, Dietmar Nietan stated that there was a consensus in the SPD that the former chancellor was no longer "one of us".

Referring to the anti-German campaign in the Polish state media, he noted that what it causes is that hardly anyone in Germany wants to deal with relations with Poland today. At the same time, he emphasized that he positively - from the left-wing perspective - assessed such activities of Poland's Law and Justice such as handing out child benefits. The above, according to Nietan is a departure from neoliberalism and demonstrates concern for social justice.