Image copyright AP Image caption The raid on Wprost's offices by a prosecutor was broadcast live by several TV channels in Poland 
 
 Poland's justice minister has said a controversial raid to find leaked tapes that embarrassed the government "should have never taken place". 
 
 Marek Biernacki said the raid on the offices of a news magazine had raised "legitimate concerns". 
 
 Wprost published an alleged private conversation in which Poland's top banker discusses the next election with a minister. 
 
 Under Polish law, the central bank must remain independent of politics. 
 
 Transcripts of the recordings, made at a restaurant in Warsaw popular with politicians, were published earlier this week. 
 
 In the recording, Interior Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz is allegedly heard talking to Marek Belka, head of the National Bank of Poland. 
 
 Mr Belka is apparently heard calling for Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski to be removed in return for the bank's support in the event of an economic crisis. 
 
 Mr Rostowski was replaced four months later - but Prime Minister Donald Tusk denies this was as a result of the taped discussion. 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption PM Donald Tusk said if "the crisis in confidence" continues there would have to be a snap election 
 
 Mr Tusk backed both men on Monday and said the leaked recordings were "an attempt at a coup d'etat, bringing down the Polish government by illegal means". 
 
 A prosecutor, accompanied by state security agents, raided the magazine's offices overnight on Wednesday and its editor said "physical force" had been used in an attempt to seize his laptop. 
 
 Justice Minister Marek Biernacki said the prosecutors' actions could be considered as "too far-reaching" and raise "legitimate concerns about breaching of journalistic confidentiality". 
 
 Michal Krolikowski, the Justice Ministry's undersecretary of state, added to the criticism, saying there had been "several legal deficiencies and some errors" in the operation. 
 
 The emergence of the tapes and the government's handling of the situation has put Mr Tusk under severe pressure. 
 
 On Thursday he said "the only solution" would be a snap election if "the crisis in confidence" continued. 
 
 Mr Tusk and his centre-right coalition won a second term in office at the October 2011 parliamentary election. ||||| In an episode that was also highly embarrassing to Mr. Tusk’s government, prosecutors raided the offices of Wprost last week and tried to seize the editor in chief’s laptop. The subsequent siege was broadcast on live television, and security agents were forced to leave empty-handed, though the newspaper later turned over copies of the taped conversations to the authorities. 
 
 “I am especially concerned about the lack of clarity as to who did the recordings,” said Andrew Michta, a professor of international studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, who has extensive experience in Central and Eastern Europe. “And also why they surfaced now, at a time of significant shifts in regional security, when Poland is making key decisions on defense, military modernization and working to increase U.S. and NATO military presence in the country.” 
 
 Rumors have been flying in Warsaw about who might be behind the electronic eavesdropping, which appears to have been underway for more than a year. Potential suspects include political enemies, disgruntled security operatives or Russian agents releasing the tapes now in reaction to Poland’s hard-line on Ukraine. 
 
 At first, Wprost would not say how it had obtained the recordings, but on Sunday it said that the tapes had been provided by a “businessman.” 
 
 Aleksander Smolar, the president of the Stefan Batory Foundation, which advocates for open government and civic issues, said the timing of the conversation was critical to understanding the comments in it. 
 
 While still maintaining a strongly pro-American position, Poland’s top officials had worried in recent years about the United States’ interest in deepening its commitment to regional security. But Russia’s annexation of Crimea turned that attitude around, Mr. Smolar said, as shown by President Obama’s warm reception in Warsaw this month. 
 
 Mr. Sikorski’s comments, if they are accurately depicted in the excerpt, were a reflection of that earlier frustration, Mr. Smolar said. ||||| WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Denouncing Russia's actions in Crimea as "nothing more than a land grab," Vice President Joe Biden warned Russia on Tuesday that the U.S. and Europe will impose further sanctions as Moscow moved to annex part of Ukraine. 
 
 RECROPED VERSION OF XAK154 - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, sitting at right, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, left and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, third left begin talks in Warsaw, Poland,... (Associated Press) 
 
 U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, speaks to the media after talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, right, in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, March 18, 2014. Biden arrived in Warsaw for consultations... (Associated Press) 
 
 U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk look at each others during a press conference after talks in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, March 18, 2014. Biden arrived in Warsaw... (Associated Press) 
 
 With few good options, the United States was scrambling for ways to show it won't stand idly by as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty for the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea to join Russia. So far, Putin has been undeterred by sanctions and visa bans levied by the U.S. and the European Union, and there's no U.S. appetite for military intervention. 
 
 "Russia has offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than a land grab, including what he said today," Biden said in Poland, which shares a border with both Russia and Ukraine. "But the world has seen through Russia's actions and has rejected the flawed logic behind those actions." 
 
 Biden arrived early Tuesday in a region on edge over Russia's nascent aggression in Crimea. Amid eerie echoes of the Cold War, U.S. allies including Poland have raised concerns that they could be next should the global community be unable to persuade Putin to back down. 
 
 Former Soviet states are among the most alarmed by the prospect that Moscow could be resuming its traditional imperial ambitions. But Ukraine is at greater risk militarily because it lacks membership in NATO and the promise of collective defensive measures that NATO membership provides. 
 
 The first round of sanctions having failed, Biden promised more would be coming, as he declared that Russia's actions constituted a blatant violation of international law. 
 
 Meanwhile, major Western powers sought fresh ways to show that Russia would incur real costs unless it changes course. 
 
 The White House announced that President Barack Obama was inviting the leaders of the G-7 group of nations to a meeting in Europe next week to discuss further action. The group normally meets under the banner of the G-8, including Russia, but has suspended preparations for upcoming G-8 talks. 
 
 And in London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the U.K. was suspending military cooperation with Russia in light of the crisis. 
 
 "It's a simple fact that Russia's political and economic isolation will only increase if it continues down this dark path," Biden said, adding that virtually the entire world rejects the referendum in Crimea on Sunday that cleared the way for Russia to absorb it. 
 
 For his part, Putin seemed to shrug off the tough talk from the West, describing Russia's move to add Crimea to its map as correcting past injustices. In an emotional, live speech from the Kremlin, he said that "in people's hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia." 
 
 Russia's move in clear defiance of its neighbors and the U.S. ups the pressure on Biden to convince its NATO allies that the U.S. won't roll over. After meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Biden headed to the Poland's presidential palace to consult with President Bronislaw Komorowski. 
 
 In sessions Tuesday in the Polish capital and later in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, Biden was to discuss the crisis with the leaders of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia — three Baltic nations that are deeply concerned about what Russia's military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula might portend for the region. 
 
 All four countries share borders with Russia, while Poland also borders Ukraine. Poland broke away from Moscow's domination in 1989 and was a vocal advocate for Ukraine forging closer ties with the E.U. — a dispute at the heart of Ukraine's political crisis. 
 
 "This trial, this challenge that we are facing will not be for a month or a year," Tusk said after meeting with Biden. "We are facing a strategic perspective for many years to come." 
 
 Biden said the goal is for NATO to emerge from this crisis stronger and more unified than ever. While in Europe, Biden planned to discuss what additional steps the U.S. can take to shore up security for Poland and the Baltics, such as increased training, said a senior administration official, who wasn't authorized to comment by name and demanded anonymity. 
 
 At Warsaw's request, the U.S. last week sent some 300 air troops and a dozen F-16 fighters to Poland for joint training in a show of military support for a key ally. 
 
 Also on the agenda: long-term energy security in Europe, a key factor that has confounded the West's attempts to display a united front in punishing Russia. Much of Europe is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, and European countries have major economic interests in Russia that could be in jeopardy if Moscow retaliates with sanctions of its own. 
 
 Republican lawmakers and a handful of European countries, including Poland, have urged the White House to accelerate approval of U.S. natural gas exports, but the White House has insisted that would take too long and says Russia is too dependent on gas revenues to cut off Europe. 
 
 One option that doesn't appear to be on the table: rethinking the U.S. posture on missile defense in the region. Poland is still bruised from Obama's 2009 decision to cancel the final phase of a defense system sorely Poland wanted as a hedge against Russian missiles. Biden said the smaller, phased-in system Obama chose instead is on schedule for completion. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Monika Scislowska in Warsaw and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
– A man who sounds a lot like Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski doesn't mince words about his feelings toward the US—and his fellow Poles—in a boozy, secretly recorded backroom chat obtained by Polish magazine Wprost. The man the magazine identifies as Sikorski says the "Polish-American alliance isn't worth anything. It is even harmful because it creates a false sense of security," the AP reports. We are "suckers, total suckers," the man continues. "The problem in Poland is that we have shallow pride and low self-esteem." The magazine shook Polish politics last week with the release of a recording of the country's interior minister and the chief of the central bank discussing how the bank could help the governing party win elections this year. The new recording—apparently made before the Ukraine crisis—drags the scandal into foreign policy at a critical time and the magazine says it will release full transcripts today, reports the New York Times. The magazine, which says the recordings were obtained from a businessman, was raided last week by prosecutors who tried to seize the editor-in-chief's laptop. The government later admitted there had been "legal deficiencies" and the raid should never have happened, the BBC reports.