A Russian attack on NATO would end in Moscow’s defeat, warns the Polish foreign minister

An attack by Russia on NATO would end in a defeat for Moscow, but NATO must increase its defenses, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Thursday in a speech held in parliament, reports the Associated Press, reports News .ro.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told parliament on Thursday that Donald Tusk’s Polish government wants to return to the group of countries that set the European Union’s agenda, setting out the government’s vision at a historically crucial moment with a war across the border, in Ukraine.

Ahead of the speech, the Foreign Office said Sikorski’s vision was closely aligned with that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who also laid out his ambitions for Europe to be a more assertive global power in a speech at the Sorbonne on Thursday. Senior Polish officials have welcomed Macron’s open support for Ukraine, but also want Paris to increase its military aid deliveries.

Under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, Russia waged a hybrid war against Poland, including through disinformation, Sikorski charged. He said Russia is lying when it falsely claims that Poland is seeking to annex parts of western Ukraine around the city of Lviv that once belonged to Poland. Speaking in Ukrainian, he said: “Lviv is Ukraine.”

Sikorski’s speech in parliament was dedicated to exposing the new direction of the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who took office in December. Sikorski tried to explain how Poland’s priorities changed after Tusk’s government replaced a conservative national party (Law and Justice Party, PiS) regarding the rule of law and international relations.

Among those who attended the speech from the parliament rostrum was the president Andrzej Duda, who comes from PiS, as well as members of the diplomatic corps from Warsaw.

The government in Warsaw asserts its right to define Poland’s international policies, after President Duda recently met with presumptive Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump and, on the other hand, expressed his country’s willingness to host nuclear weapons of NATO.

Sikorski emphasized in his speech the importance of friendship with Germany, stating that the period of confrontation during the previous government is over.

“Differences of opinion do not mean that we are condemned to an eternal conflict. Germany is our democratic neighbor, our largest trading partner, an important European player and a key ally in NATO. Warsaw and Berlin need each other”, he declared.

Sikorski argued that Poland’s development and security should be based on both transatlantic cooperation and European integration, and said his country is also ready to take responsibility for global challenges.

Sikorski’s speech addressed both the global audience and the domestic one in this country of 38 million inhabitants located along a geopolitical fault. Poland, a member of NATO and the European Union, is on the eastern flank of the two and shares common borders with Russia and Belarus, in addition to Ukraine. It is a key hub for Western weapons going to Ukraine.