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Polish ForMin: Nobody should underestimate Russia
The Polish Foreign Minister, Zbigniew Rau, on Wednesday said that no one should underestimate Russia, because history showed that this country has enormous potential for recovery.
He participated in the panel called "The Impact of the War in Ukraine on the Security on NATO's Eastern Flank. Implications for the Black Sea Region and Beyond," organized within the Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy (RADR), together with his Romanian and Portuguese counterparts.
"We are confident that a consolidated allied presence in the region, and Poland and Portugal are exemplary in this field, is the solution for a more effective defense," said the Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, at the beginning of the discussions.
Zbigniew Rau spoke about the "lessons" of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"Russia is a threat to peace in Europe. Since Putin took power, he has been preparing to use force against Ukraine and was building networks of interdependencies in Europe, to use them as military auxiliary tools in making Ukraine dependent on Russia and, again, ultimately, to destroy it," said the head of Polish diplomacy.
He appreciated that "Europe's dependence on Russian gas was one of the key instruments supporting Russia's revisionist policy."
The Polish minister underscored that the lesson that the Ukrainian conflict teaches us is that Russia can quickly regenerate its military potential and that the Russian threat remains the key factor of European politics in the coming years.
At the same time, he said that, in this context, the USA remains a European force indispensable for maintaining peace in Europe, since this country has a spirit of leadership and capabilities that no one, no European country or institution can replace.
Moreover, he added that, without the involvement of the US, Ukraine would have no chance of successfully resisting Russian aggression. Also, the Polish minister stated that "so far, Russia has not achieved its strategic goals."
He further mentioned the need for European countries to strengthen their defence.
În this context, he added that the countries on NATO's Eastern flank are currently facing a key-moment in this part of Europe's history.
In referring to the bilateral relation between the two countries, the head of the Polish diplomacy noticed that Romania and Poland have the same voice.
He appreciated that, in this very difficult situation faced by Poland and Romania, the largest countries on NATO's Eastern flank, the two countries have actually responded very well to the challenges.
He went on to say that both countries must continue to actively support Ukraine, in order to be able to defend itself from the aggressor and to fully regain its currently occupied territories. He also mentioned that there is need of more sanctions be taken against Russia and to have the decisions of the NATO Summit in Madrid implemented.
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, Joao Gomes Cravinho, spoke about the relationship with the Russian Federation.
He warned that Europe should not forget about what happened in Ukraine. In the past, there was an idea in Europe that we should make efforts to understand Russia. Currently, many appreciate that we were far too lenient in 2008, in 2014 and that these gestures were mistakes that created the basis for the invasion of Ukraine, the Portuguese diplomat said.
Thus, in his opinion, a first step would be related to a "strategic defeat of Russia in Ukraine."
He also talked about the idea of trust in what concerns energy in Europe.
The Portuguese high official pointed out that everyone understands now the enormous mistake that was the strategic trust between Europe and Russia in the field of energy - especially between Germany and Russia, but not only. Nord Stream 2 will forever remain a huge underwater monument to the lack of understanding of what it means strategic trust, while Nord Stream 1 will probably have the same fate, concluded the Portuguese Foreign Minister.