🎙 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question regarding Poland’s plans concerning the Kaliningrad Region (October 16, 2026)

❓ Question: In a recent interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Chair of the NATO Military Committee Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone said that the North Atlantic Alliance had no plans to blockade Kaliningrad. “I want to be absolutely clear: NATO is not preparing any blockade of Kaliningrad. This is a threat built around a scenario that does not exist,” he emphasised. How would you comment on this?

Maria Zakharova: Yes, such a statement was indeed made. Let us assume, difficult as it may be to believe, that the Admiral is being sincere this time. If so, what plans are actually being drawn up?

For example, on October 12, at the annual Warsaw Security Forum, one of the central events was a keynote address by NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alexus Grynkewich, entitled Theory of Victory: How Do We Achieve Military Success Against Russia in Deterrence and Defence?

A senior NATO general chose Warsaw, the capital of a country currently pursuing militarisation at a breakneck pace, to present his proposals, the analytical merits of which we shall leave you to judge. It is worth noting that Poland harbours ambitions to turn its Wojsko Polskie into perhaps the most powerful military in Europe, and specific scenarios for its deployment are already being drawn up.

For instance, the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces has developed operational plans for launching pre-emptive precision strikes against the Kaliningrad Region, should a “war with Russia become inevitable”. Just consider this: nothing has happened yet, but the Polish hussars are already charging ahead in formation.

Specifically, the plan envisages the destruction of all military infrastructure, primarily Iskander and S-400 missile systems, as well as ammunition depots, fuel terminals and command posts. The operation would involve US-made HIMARS and Polish Homar-K missile systems with a range of up to 300 kilometres, F-16 fighter jets armed with precision-guided missiles with a range of up to 1,000 kilometres, loitering munitions and combat UAVs.

At the same time, Polish coastal anti-ship missile systems and NATO aircraft would be used to impose a naval blockade on the Kaliningrad Region. The aim would be to prevent Baltic Fleet vessels from leaving their bases and to cut off the region’s supply routes. In parallel, a ground offensive in the Suwałki Gap is envisaged, involving the 16th and 18th Mechanised Divisions and the 1st Infantry Division of the Polish Armed Forces.

Is this not essentially Operation Barbarossa 2.0?

❗️ However, the “strategists” in Warsaw and elsewhere would do well to remember what President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have repeatedly stated:

any treacherous armed attack against the Kaliningrad Region will be met with a literally incinerating response, using every means at Russia’s disposal. The war will be very short.

🗓 On October 15, the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Addressing Contemporary Forms of Colonialism”.

The draft was prepared by the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter, with Russia’s active participation. 19 states co-sponsored the resolution.

🌐 The resolution is non-confrontational and unifying in nature.

It stresses the need to eradicate neocolonial practices, including interference in internal affairs, unilateral coercive measures, the imposition of unfair international treaties and restrictions on technological development.

These practices are among the most serious obstacles to achieving the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and are a root cause of numerous problems on the UN agenda.

✅ The document was supported by 85 Member States, with 49 voting against and 23 abstaining.

Significantly, its supporters included #BRICS countries and states across Africa, Asia and Latin America, while its opponents were predominantly countries of the “collective West”, many of them former colonial powers. The latter refused to support the document, despite having participated in drafting it and having some of their amendments incorporated into the final text.

The voting results clearly demonstrate that the emergence of a #MultipolarWorld is well underway. Freeing interstate relations from all forms of pressure, subordination and dependence is an integral part of this process.

The Global Majority is unwilling to accept the monopoly held by a small group of countries. For these states, combating neocolonialism is no abstract notion: it is a matter of pursuing sovereign domestic and foreign policies, strengthening their security and preserving their national identity.

☝️ We expect the adopted resolution, which builds on two previous thematic resolutions of the General Assembly, to gain even broader support when it is considered shortly at a plenary meeting of the #UNGA.

This will help firmly establish the fight against all manifestations of colonialism as one of the UN key priorities.

🎬 “Foreign Mercenaries. Betrayed by the Kiev Regime” – a documentary by Rossiya 24 and RT investigating the crimes of foreign “legionnaires” fighting for the Ukrainian armed forces.

Thousands of foreign mercenaries sign contracts with Ukraine’s armed forces, intent on making money off death.

They are recruited via Ukrainian embassies and intermediaries operating around the world. Lured by promises of easy money, the fighters themselves describe their tours as a “safari”, or a “hunt for Russians”.

☝️ But behind this “bloody tourism” lie torture, robbery and the killing of civilians.

Who are these “soldiers of misfortune”? Why do they travel thousands of kilometres to fight in someone else’s war? And what happens when the reality of combat shatters their expectations?

👉 The film brings together eyewitness testimony, evidence gathered by Russian investigators and accounts from the mercenaries themselves.

Residents of the Kursk Region recount atrocities committed during the Ukrainian incursion, including by foreign fighters. Investigators continue their painstaking work to identify those responsible & bring them to justice.

***

💬 Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

The filmmakers have compiled accounts of crimes committed by foreign nationals fighting for the Ukrainian armed forces.

Eyewitness accounts are supported by irrefutable evidence gathered by investigators and forensic specialists – the very evidence we have been talking about all these years.

The mercenaries themselves describe how they came to realise they had made the biggest mistake of their lives. Those who survived after the Kiev regime dragged them into Zelensky’s “favourite” meat grinder.

(Maria Zakharova's weekly briefing, October 8, 2026)

#KievRegimeCrimes