"Weakness inspires aggression from Russia"

The Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has reiterated his conviction that "Russia must be met with military force" as it perceives weakness as an opportunity for aggression. Sikorski has been one of the most consistent critics of Putin's Russia. 

Radosław Sikorski.

Photo: PAP/EPA/Piotr Nowak

Sikorski was speaking to the German agency DPA, taking the opportunity to criticise German administrative lethargy in delivering weapons to Ukraine. 

Unlike most western leaders, Sikorski has been a consistent critic of Putin's Russia for many years. In 2014 he told Euroaktiv that: 

If Europe’s reaction to Crimea annexation had been more vigorous, as Poland advocated, and if the EU had adopted more immediate sanctions at the time, the current war in Donetsk would not have happened. 

Today Sikorski has been more "hawkish" towards Russia, softening world leaders and public opinion to the idea of their ground troops in Ukraine:

Polish foreign minister has called the presence of servicemen of some Western countries on the territory of Ukraine a "Poliszynel secret"

"As Chancellor [Scholz] said, there are already some units from major countries in Ukraine. In Poland we have the term "Tajemnica… pic.twitter.com/NoYfRu9Bj0

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 20, 2024

Sikorski has seen at first hand a Russian invasion - of Afghanistan where he was a correspondent in the mid 80s. He won a World Press Photo award for a picture there in 1987.

Sources: PAP, Euroaktiv, X

pt