Poland’s President Andrzej Duda says NATO cannot allow Russia to defeat Ukraine militarily, arguing that a scenario in which Moscow wins the war will most likely lead to a wider war between the West and Russia.
– We cannot allow Russia to win this war… Because if we let Ukraine lose, then a potential war between Russia and the West will be extremely close, he said in an interview with Polish media.
Duda condemned the war in Ukraine as “Russian imperialism” and claimed that Putin actually wants to “attack further and further” if Kiev is defeated.
According to the president, the US-led military alliance “unanimously” considers Russia “the greatest and direct threat to the security” and stressed that NATO is preparing for war, Russia’s RT reported.
– There is a determination to show Putin that the West is not afraid. The threat of war exists because mere words of condemnation will not deter Russia, he continued, arguing that NATO is arming itself to “deter” Russia.
Dismissed as “horror stories”
The idea that Russia would invade Poland, the Baltic states, Sweden or other nearby European countries after defeating Ukraine is an argument increasingly used to justify sanctions, aid packages and deliveries of increasingly expensive and advanced weapons to Kiev.
Russia has consistently dismissed the accusations as “horror stories” and Vladimir Putin has called them “nonsense” and propaganda by European governments to scare Europeans into agreeing to continue funding the war while cuts are made in other areas.
Moscow’s official position is that it wants to guarantee its territorial security, which it believes is threatened by NATO’s expansion toward its borders. At the same time, however, it has confirmed that it considers NATO countries to be parties to the conflict because of their supply of weapons used by Ukraine to attack targets inside Russia, and that this risks leading to a military response from Moscow – which has been interpreted as attacks on NATO targets beyond Ukraine’s borders.
