No Appeasement

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk believes it is essential to prevent Russia's seizure of Crimea to expand into a wider regional conflict.

Tusk said, "History shows - although I don't want to use too many historical comparisons - that those who appease all the time in order to preserve peace usually only buy a little bit of time."

Poland shares a border with Ukraine and large parts of the of the country were Polish before World War Two. Warsaw's foreign policy is driven by a fear of its former overlord Russia pushing west into Ukraine and threatening Poland's own borders.

Poland played an important role in brokering the deal that ended violent conflicts between pro-Europe protesters and the government of President Viktor Yanukovich, a Russian ally, and that led eventually Yanukovich's ouster.