 Beneš, who saw regaining the territory as a primary objective, saw the Soviet Union, particularly in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Poland, as a potential ally and as a counterbalance to Poland, and he would steadily align his government more with the Soviet Union than Poland in the belief that an alliance with a powerful country would be more beneficial to Czechoslovakia than a federation with several other smaller powers.That was quite contrary to the Polish attitude, as the Polish leader of that time, Władysław Sikorski, saw the Soviet Union as a major threat to the postwar European order.Thus, when Sikorski approached Beneš and proposed discussions over a future Polish-Czechoslovak federation in 1939, aiming to create a stronger postwar Poland and Czechoslovakia, Beneš's response was lukewarm at best, as he was not interested in strengthening Poland.