If you have a drink with a Russian, after the second shot he'll almost certainly ask: "Do you respect me?" (Ty menya uvazhayesh?). There's a certain inferiority complex wrapped up in that question. For some reason, he needs to be constantly reassured that he's being treated as an equal.

Unfortunately, this inferiority complex largely defines Russia's foreign policy as well. Moscow never forgets the countries and peoples it feels have somehow insulted it. These days, this primarily concerns Ukraine, which refused to submit to Moscow's authority, instead launching the Maidan Revolution and toppling Russia's proxy, Viktor Yanukovych. Russia has long harbored particular resentment toward Poland, and more recently, toward Finland as well.

This is personal

Some historians have noted that Stalin personally hated the Poles. The main reason for this hatred likely lay in the Poles' pride and desire for freedom. In that sense, August 1920 was a turning point — what came to be known as the "Miracle on the Vistula." In the Battle of Warsaw, Józef Piłsudski's forces unexpectedly crushed Mikhail Tukhachevsky's horde, halted the Red Army's westward advance and secured Poland's independence. That was an unforgivable "mistake."

It wasn't long before Stalin and Hitler carved up Europe into spheres of influence and Poland was invaded from both sides.

In August 1944, when an uprising broke out in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, the Soviets — stationed on the opposite bank of the Vistula — refused to help and let the rebellion be drowned in blood. The reason: the uprising was organized by the Armia Krajowa, which did not answer to Moscow.

In 1943, the Germans uncovered the Katyn massacre. In 1940, the NKVD had murdered nearly 22,000 Polish officers and more than 6,000 civilians. Until Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika, the Soviets tried to pin the blame on the Germans.

To this day, suspicions remain about what really caused the 2010 plane crash near Smolensk. A Polish state delegation was on its way to a Katyn memorial event when their aircraft went down. Eighty-five top officials were killed, including President Lech Kaczyński. The symbolism is hard to ignore.

In retrospect, it's often said that Poland's independent trade union movement Solidarity, led by Lech Wałęsa, laid the groundwork for the collapse of the entire socialist system in Europe and the fall of the Soviet Union. For Vladimir Putin, that alone is reason enough to despise the Poles — after all, in his view, the Soviet Union's collapse was the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.

Now there's the war in Ukraine. Poland is a key transit country through which Western military aid reaches Ukraine. During the most recent drone attack, it was likely a test to assess the possibility of striking Rzeszów, the main hub for those deliveries.

Traitorous Finland

The story with Finland is a bit different. There's no overt hatred toward the Finns; instead, the dominant feelings are of "betrayal" and "disrespect." Finland's decision to join NATO was a real slap in the face for Moscow. How could this happen? Finland had ceded Karelia, paid massive war reparations and pursued a pro-Moscow policy throughout the Cold War (a process sometimes called "Finlandization") — and now, suddenly, it joined the very alliance Moscow considers its primary enemy.

What no one seems willing to acknowledge in Russia is that it was Moscow's own attack on Ukraine that prompted Finland (and Sweden) to join NATO in the first place.

Not long ago, former Russian president (and essentially Putin's stand-in), now deputy chair of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, published an essay threatening to annul the peace treaty with Finland, claiming Finland was laying the groundwork for a NATO attack on Russia. Medvedev also demanded massive additional reparations from Finland and warned that Finnish statehood could disappear forever.

One might dismiss Medvedev as a drunk and the Kremlin's court jester — but he's still the fifth most powerful man in the country. And since nothing in Russia happens without Putin's approval, it's likely Medvedev is voicing views that Putin fully shares but, as head of state, cannot afford to express himself. Medvedev, by the way, has repeatedly threatened to wipe London and other Western capitals off the map with nuclear strikes.

Times have changed. In the past, both Poland and Finland had to stand alone against aggressors. Now, both are members of NATO and possess significant independent military capabilities. Recently, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk introduced the so-called Piast Doctrine — named after Poland's first royal dynasty. The goal is for Poland to become the most influential economic and military power in Eastern Europe.

If there's anything positive to take from Russian drones entering Polish airspace, it's that it may accelerate Poland's progress toward that goal.

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