Polish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski is taking an increasingly hard line against Russia, claiming that Moscow recently attempted to blow up a passenger train in Poland.
In an interview with The Times of London, Sikorski accused the Kremlin of conducting state-sponsored terrorism below the threshold of open war, including sabotage and assassination attempts designed to undermine Western security. He said the train disaster was prevented only because the attackers failed to properly carry out the operation.
Sikorski said Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed in his attempt to restore Russia’s status as a global superpower and establish a “Second Yalta.” He argued that Russia would have no chance in a direct confrontation with the West, noting that the Baltic Sea countries alone have a combined economy larger than Russia’s and defense budgets that exceed Moscow’s war budget.
“If the Ukrainians managed to disable half of Russia’s refining capacity in six months, we could do it in six weeks and disable the other half,” Sikorski said.
To deter Moscow, Sikorski called on NATO to hold aggressive military exercises near the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. He said such exercises could create uncertainty for the Kremlin and force Russia to withdraw troops from the war in Ukraine.
Sikorski suggested that Putin is rejecting a ceasefire because he is counting on another mobilization effort and a difficult winter. However, he said the war is weakening Moscow and deepening its dependence on Beijing.
“China is taking over the Russian market, and Russia will become a very junior partner,” Sikorski said.
Against the backdrop of the Russian threat, Poland is rapidly expanding its military in an effort to build the largest land force in Europe. The Polish army currently has more than 220,000 soldiers, while Warsaw is expected to spend 4.7% of its gross domestic product on defense in 2026—approximately 200 billion zlotys.
Poland’s purchases from domestic defense companies have risen sharply since 2022, reaching 30.4 billion zlotys. By 2030, Poland is also expected to receive more than 43.7 billion euros from the European Union, including funds for air-defense systems and the “Eastern Shield” program to fortify the country’s borders with Russia and Belarus.
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One Response
Any serious fighting between NATO and Russia would probably end with the loser going nuclear. In a best case scenario, the destruction would be significantly greater than World War II (worst case scenario is the world goes back to תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ).