- WIADOMOŚCI
„Warsaw will disappear in two or three days”
The former Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and current advisor to Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Patrushev, has threatened Poland with Russia’s use of its full military potential. In his view, if Poland were to enter into an armed conflict with Moscow, “Warsaw would cease to exist within two or three days.” The statement followed comments by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who assessed that in the event of a Russian attack on the Alliance, NATO would be able to defeat Russia quickly.
Patrushev gave an interview to the Russian newspaper Arguments and Facts. His statement was cited by the state news agency TASS. “If Poland enters into hostilities against Russia, our country will use the entire arsenal of forces and means at its disposal, and Warsaw will cease to exist within two or three days,” Patrushev said.
The Russian politician did not specify which means he had in mind. In the cited statement, he did not refer directly to nuclear weapons, although Russia possesses one of the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. Patrushev’s remarks were a reaction to the words of Radosław Sikorski, who spoke about a potential conflict between NATO and Russia during the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv on 12-13 September. The Polish Foreign Minister assessed that if Russia were to attack NATO, the Alliance would be able to defeat Russian forces quickly. “If Russia attacked us and we took the gloves off, I think we would defeat Russia quite quickly,” Sikorski said.
Sikorski primarily highlighted NATO’s air superiority. According to him, the European members of the Alliance have approximately 2,500 military aircraft at their disposal, which gives NATO a significant advantage over the Russian air force. However, Patrushev dismissed the way the Polish minister analyses Russian military capabilities as “amateurish”. The Russian representative also argued that Russian forces are not utilising their full military potential during the war against Ukraine. This declaration comes at a time when Russia has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine for over four years and, despite the losses sustained in personnel and equipment, has failed to subjugate the entire country.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has been among Kyiv’s most important military and political partners. Poland’s location is of particular importance for the security of NATO’s eastern flank. Poland borders Ukraine, the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Belarus, which is Moscow’s closest regional ally.
