Weak economy will force Putin to negotiate peace, Polish FM says
A further weakening of the Russian economy will eventually compel President Vladimir Putin to enter negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said.
"What will bring Russia to the table is the further degradation of the Russian economy, so that Putin understands that he cannot possibly achieve his war aims by continuing the war," Sikorski said in an interview with public broadcaster TVP World, aired on Sunday.
Despite Russian territorial advances over the past year, Sikorski argued that Moscow lacks the capacity to conquer Ukraine in any meaningful timeframe. At the current pace, he said, Putin would need decades to take over the entire country.
"But this is the trouble with dictators, because once you're in power for 20 years, there are very few people who will tell you like it is," the Polish minister said.
Sikorski commented that when the war is over, Ukraine must be ready not only to integrate with the European Union but also to defend its borders, claiming that failure to do so would risk another conflict.
He also argued that a just and lasting peace would only be possible once Russia's political elites conclude that the invasion was a mistake and that attempts to reconstruct a Russian empire are doomed to fail.
Turning to European defence capabilities, Sikorski said that Europe must urgently revive its defence industry to ensure it can deter Russia regardless of future US policy.
"If the US gets involved in a war in Asia, and we cannot exclude that, it might not be capable of helping us," he said. "And so we have till the end of the decade to build the kind of military that Putin will be reluctant to challenge."
"That's why by the end of the decade we need to have military forces so strong that Putin will not dare to test them," Sikorski continued.
At the same time, he said the US military presence in Poland was likely to continue.
"The US has a very favourable status of forces agreement," Sikorski said. "We contribute about USD 15,000 per soldier per annum... It is cheaper to keep a US soldier and to exercise him or her in Poland than in the US. That's mutually advantageous." (PAP)
jd/jch
