Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is nearing its two-year mark.
The war is dragging on, which many experts have pointed out is not in Ukraine's favor.
Meanwhile, various actors, including NATO, politicians, and war scholars, have warned that if Russia wins the war, more countries will be next in line.
"If Putin wins in Ukraine, there is a real risk that his aggression won't stop there," said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in December.
"Guys, What Are You Going to Do?"
Now, Aleksey Zhuravlyov, one of Russia's lawmakers and a close ally of dictator Vladimir Putin, has identified the next target for Moscow.
Unexpectedly, it's not a country that was officially part of the former Soviet Union, something that many experts believe Putin dreams of recreating.
"Putin has made no secret of his desire to reestablish Russian influence across all of its former imperial domains," says Mark Temnycky of the Atlantic Council think tank.
Instead, Poland is the country being targeted, as reported by Newsweek.
"A question for you, guys in the West, what are you going to do about it?" Zhuravlyov asks in a broadcast on Russian state TV.
"Ukraine is Done For"
Zhuravlyov, who also holds a seat in the State Duma and is known for his nationalist and militaristic tendencies, also mentions the Swedish war warnings in his statement.
"They understand very well that Ukraine is done for. So what's next? Sweden is getting ready and so is the Balkans. The Poles have quieted down a bit, they probably started to realize that they are next," says the Russian politician, according to a clip shared by Julia Davis, founder of Russian Media Monitor, on X.
"We have no illusions, of course, but we understand that everyone is preparing for the next step in the war."
Member of NATO
Poland, unlike Ukraine, has been a member of NATO since 1999.
An attack on Poland would thus trigger the defense alliance's Article 5 and spark a major war between NATO and Russia.
The statement that the Poles would not be prepared is also contradicted by how the country mobilized after an "unidentified aerial object" crossed its border towards Ukraine at the end of December, putting Poland in a crisis meeting.
"NATO is monitoring the situation," Jens Stoltenberg emphasized after the incident.
