- I still remember my words, it was like throwing peas at a wall back then, it was 2014 or 2015 when I told our European, NATO partners to stop deluding themselves that Russia would be our strategic partner, because that was the prevailing theory in some European capitals at the time. I said then – remember, Russia will always be a strategic problem, not a partner for Europe, and with bitter satisfaction, I must say that Poland, along with other countries in the region, was right with these warnings – stated Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Nitro-Chem plant.