Brussels – Moscow: Europe and the Arabs

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that Russia is planning to launch "unintentional" air strikes against countries supporting Ukraine. Russia intends to carry out "hybrid" attacks using drones and missiles against Ukraine's allies.
According to Tusk, Polish intelligence services have detected these plans. He claims that Russia would classify such attacks—should they occur—as "unintentional" in order to limit the likelihood of NATO allies invoking mutual defense provisions.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty stipulates that an attack on one member state is considered an attack on the entire alliance. However, if Russian drones were to crash "accidentally" onto NATO territory, this article would presumably not apply.
Consequently, Tusk believes the Russian objective is to undermine NATO's "global cohesion." He also anticipates more intense Russian bombardment of Ukraine in the coming weeks. Speaking on Thursday evening, the Polish Prime Minister described the current situation as the "most critical moment" of the war so far. He is scheduled to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, today, Friday.
According to media reports from Brussels—including the Belgian newspaper *Nieuwsblad*—NATO member states along Europe's eastern flank, such as Poland, Latvia, Romania, and Lithuania, have been forced to shoot down drones that repeatedly violated their airspace in recent months. On Thursday alone, Polish fighter jets were scrambled twice following threat alerts. Until now, it was generally assumed that the aircraft were targeting Ukraine or Russia and had not deviated from their flight paths intentionally.
Two Russian military aircraft violate Lithuanian airspace
The Italian news agency ANSA reported that two Italian Air Force Eurofighter F-2000 fighter jets were scrambled from Lithuania on Thursday afternoon as part of NATO's eastern flank air defense mission. Two Russian military aircraft had violated the airspace.
Polish airports resume operations
Lublin and Rzeszów airports have resumed flight operations. Airlines had suspended flights on Thursday evening due to the presence of military aircraft following renewed Russian attacks in central Ukraine.
Poland to host a US military base
"Great news! Thanks to the decisive leadership of my friend Karol Nawrocki, President of Poland, significant progress is being made toward establishing a US military base in Poland. If the project is approved, the location will be announced very soon. This would be a historic step for our great US-Polish alliance." This is what US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.
Meanwhile, parliamentary elections in Russia are set to take place from September 18 to 20—elections with a foregone conclusion. The United Russia party—President Vladimir Putin’s party—is contesting the election without any real competition; thus, there is no doubt it will retain its parliamentary majority after 23 years. Nevertheless, the Kremlin will be watching the situation closely to see if the Russian people have grown weary of the war in Ukraine. These are the first parliamentary elections since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine in February 2022. Voters are set to fill 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. Contrary to Ukraine's wishes, the elections will also take place in Russian-controlled areas of the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, as well as in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. "It is not a question of whether United Russia will win the election or not," says Nikolai Petrov, a Russian political scientist at the Center for New Eurasian Strategies (NEST). "In that sense, the outcome is a foregone conclusion."
In the electoral arena, United Russia faces only parties that—to varying degrees—support Putin and the continuation of the war in Ukraine: the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the nationalists of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, the conservative A Just Russia party, and the liberal New People party.
The social-liberal Yabloko ("Apple") party was initially expected to appear on the ballot, but the Russian judiciary excluded it from the electoral list last month. Yabloko was the only party permitted to run that had publicly opposed the war in Ukraine.
Majority
The Russian opposition—excluded from the elections and operating from exile—has called on all Russians opposed to the war to vote against United Russia at the same time: noon on September 20. Through this move, the opposition aims to demonstrate its strength. It is worth noting that the United Russia party has controlled the State Duma for 23 years, and it does not appear likely to lose this power anytime soon. Officially, the party's former leader, Putin, is no longer a member of United Russia; however, he attended the party's congress last month. The party also defines itself as "the President's party."