Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that there was now a “real” threat of conflict in Europe for the first time since WWII and that the continent had now entered what he called a “pre-war scenario.”
“War is no longer a concept from the past. It is real, and it started over two years ago. The most worrying thing at the moment is that literally any scenario is possible.” Tusk said in an interview with the European media group LENA. “We are living in the most critical moment since the end of the Second World War,” the Polish prime minister added
Tusk’s comments are in stark contrast to President Putin’s. According to a Kremlin transcript released on Thursday, the Russian president said that Mocow had “no aggressive intentions towards these (Nato) states.”
“The idea that we will attack some other country – Poland, the Baltic States, and the Czechs are also being scared – is complete nonsense. It’s just drivel,” Putin was quoted as saying in the transcript.
Tusk has been urging fellow nations in the European continent to prepare for war for a long time. Currently, Poland which share a border with Russia is spending 4% of its GDP on defence while other European nations had not even reached the Nato target of 2% according to the BBC. He also stated that leaders of some other European nations did not feel the same sense of urgency that Poland did. Tusk pointed to Spain’s Pedro Sanchez. Tusk stated that Sanchez has asked fellow European leaders not to use the word “war” in their statements, as he felt it was too alarmist and caused panic.
Tusk’s support of Ukraine leaves him in a Catch-22 situation. Poland’s farmers have blocked the border with Ukraine demanding that Ukrainian products not be sold in Poland. Poland’s farmers sell grain and the supply is small so prices remain high. But if Ukrainian grains flood the markets, they suffer, which is what has happened. This situation got so bad that in September last year, then Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland would no longer send arms to Ukraine. Tusk has changed that but the tensions with Kyiv remain.
