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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Russia is preparing for an escalation of the war against Ukraine and tensions in the region as a whole. In his view, the coming winter will be decisive for Russia.
On Friday, the Polish prime minister spoke at the Campus Polska Przyszłości youth event in Olsztyn, where he was asked about the recent visit of CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow. According to one version reported by the media, he traveled there to warn Russia against aggression against a NATO country.
Tusk replied that the Polish side had been informed about the visit.
“I cannot go into details, but we are in constant contact with the CIA leadership, so no information about the activities and initiatives of the CIA director comes as a surprise to us. We were also informed of the need for urgent talks at the highest Polish-American level on this matter,” he said.
The prime minister recalled that in an earlier interview with a Western media outlet, he had already warned of a real threat of a Russian provocation or even a limited attack on one of the NATO countries.
“I knew perfectly well what I was saying. Today, no one has any doubts, because this is connected not only with the CIA director’s visit to Moscow, but also with the fact that these signals have been known to the public for many weeks. It is clear that Russia is seriously preparing for an escalation of tensions both in the war against Ukraine and throughout the region, and that this autumn and winter will be decisive for Russia,” he said.
He also noted that, according to assessments by various intelligence services, Russia wants to mobilize 600,000 people, and this mobilization will not be carried out for peacekeeping operations.
“Therefore, we must be prepared for various contingencies, and the next seven or eight months will certainly be decisive,” he said.
Tusk expressed the view that the Russian-Ukrainian war is at a turning point. According to him, one day it appears that Ukraine is gaining a strategic advantage, but a couple of days later it turns out that its defeat is also quite possible. He stressed that close cooperation between Europe and the United States is of great importance and that Poland, which has good relations with the United States, could play a key role in this.
The prime minister assured that he would do everything possible to ensure that NATO exists not only on paper.
“I strongly support preserving this principle as NATO’s most important principle: one for all, all for one. If Russia decides to attack, I don’t know, Estonia, we, especially Poles, would be extremely short-sighted if we said that, just in case, we would not respond. We must be at the forefront of those mobilizing NATO for an immediate and decisive response, otherwise we will be next in line,” he said.
“Russia is a potential aggressor against NATO countries, and on this issue we must be absolutely united,” Tusk stressed.