Polish PM Tusk cautions 'friends' against arrogance after Starlink spat

By Alan Charlish

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland's prime minister on Monday called on "friends" to respect their allies and not be arrogant, in a post on X which mentioned no-one by name but came a day after an extraordinary social media spat between top U.S. and Polish officials over Starlink.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Poland's foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski of "making things up" and suggested on Sunday he was ungrateful, in a strong rebuke after Sikorski said Ukraine may need an alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service if it becomes unreliable.

Poland pays for Ukraine to use the services of Starlink, which provides crucial internet connectivity to Kyiv and its military.

"True leadership means respect for partners and allies. Even for the smaller and weaker ones," Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in English on X. "Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it."

Rubio had also said that "no one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink".

"And say thank you because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now," Rubio added.

Sikorski had later replied: "Thank you, Marco, for confirming that the brave soldiers of Ukraine can count on the vital internet service provided jointly by the U.S. and Poland".

Sikorski had been told to "be quiet" and labelled a "small man" by Musk after he suggested Poland, which says it pays $50 million per year for Ukraine's Starlink services, might need to find another provider if Musk's service was unreliable.

'BIG MISTAKE'

Sikorski has come in for criticism from Poland's nationalist opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, who accuse him of damaging relations with the United States.

"Diplomacy is not conducted on Twitter and I consider it a big mistake from Minister Sikorski," said Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by PiS in Poland's presidential election. Musk's X platform was formerly known as Twitter.

The U.S. government has already revoked some access to satellite imagery for Ukraine and paused intelligence sharing, piling pressure on Kyiv as Trump seeks a swift end to the war, now in its fourth year after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Shares in Franco-British satellite operator Eutelsat soared as much as 650% last week due to speculation the company could replace Starlink in providing internet access to Ukraine.

Musk, a high-profile figure in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, said in a post on X early on Sunday that Ukraine's "entire front line would collapse if I turned it (Starlink) off".

In a series of posts on X on the subject, that lasted through the day, Musk said later he would not turn off Starlink in Ukraine.

"To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals ... We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip."

(Reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Alex Richardson and Joe Bavier)