Tusk calls for increasing European military potential to counter the Russian after Putin's threats

The threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin to NATO countries in the event that they send ground troops to Ukraine is real for countries like Poland that were part of its territories of influence until the expansion of the Alliance to the East in 1997.. This is why the European Union's damning response to Putin's State of the Nation address was not enough.. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for action, an all-out military race to match Russian military potential at the European level.

“Europe must understand that this new arms race that Russia is imposing on the world and the Russian aggression in Ukraine must cause an awakening in all European capitals and in the EU as a whole,” Tusk declared in an appearance in Warsaw with the first Latvian minister, Evika Silina. The Polish premier calls for “decisions to match Russia's military potential and make Europe better and not worse armed and prepared.”

For Tusk, after Putin's words anticipating a nuclear conflict that would end civilization on Earth, European rearmament is an “absolute necessity”. “Putin's words about Russia arming itself and moving de facto to a war economy are true. “It is not just an aggressive speech,” Tusk assured, adding that the decisions announced by the Russian leader to increase Russia's self-sufficiency and modernize its armed forces must be taken “totally seriously.”

Putin announced this Thursday that Russia has fulfilled the development plans for all the newest missiles and weapons announced by the Kremlin in 2018, part of which have already been delivered to the Russian Armed Forces and even used in the war in Ukraine.

“We have already done or completed the work on everything we planned in the field of arms, which I announced in my 2018 message,” he stated in his State of the Nation address before both houses of Parliament.. Putin added that work on a whole series of new weapons systems continues and announced that “we will soon learn about new achievements of our scientists and weapons manufacturers.”

In Germany, Putin's speech continues to be analyzed, but voices have already emerged from parliamentarians highlighting the seriousness of the content and at a time when, beyond the elections that he will attend in two weeks and that are already considered won , worrying movements are detected in the separatist region of Transnistria, in the Republic of Moldova.

Poland and the Baltic countries have been warning for months that Germany, France and the rest of Europe would also have to maximize arms production by government decree to restore to some extent Cold War arms equality.. The reason is simple: Europe is currently unable to produce enough weapons for either Ukraine or itself.

“There is a principle known since ancient times: if you want peace, prepare for war,” said German MP Norbert Rötteng, for whom this is especially true when you have as a neighbor a cynical murderer who brutally exploits any weakness.