Berlin, Aug 2 : Poland’s President Andrzej Duda considers Russia a “danger to Europe”.
“Should Ukraine, with its heroic resistance, fail to withstand Putin’s imperial plans, Poland and the Baltic states would be directly threatened by a further expansion of Russia’s sphere of influence into Central Europe,” Duda told Tuesday’s edition of Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, news agency dpa reported.
Duda spoke of “Great Russian ideas that are about subordinating other peoples.” These are not only ideas of Russian President Vladmir Putin, he said, rather a large part of Russian society is imbued with them.
“Thanks to Ukraine, this danger is contained today. But I think that this danger will unfortunately become topical in the future,” the Polish President continued. “The only thing that can be done is to strengthen our own security.”
Poland has donated 260 older T-72 tanks to Ukraine, according to Duda. This has created a gap in its own troops, he said, which must be filled by accelerating the acquisition of new tanks.
Poland also hopes for the delivery of German Leopard tanks. So far, however, a so-called circular swap, with which Polish deliveries to Ukraine would be compensated by replacements from Germany, has not come about. Poland was not satisfied with Berlin’s previous offer of 20 Leopard 2 tanks to be delivered from 2023.(IANS)