„It is not we—the West—who should be afraid of a clash with Putin, but the other way around. It is worth recalling this, not to make the Russians feel more threatened because NATO is a defence pact, but to show that a Russian attack on any member of the Alliance would result in its inevitable defeat,“ he said.
Sikorski noted that „Russia's military and economic potential pales before that of the West“. According to the Foreign Minister, „If we do not lose our will, Russia will lose“. „Putin's only hope is our lack of determination“, he warned.
According to Sikorski, „Russia had just over 1 million 300 thousand soldiers after the first wave of mobilisation“. „NATO's military personnel – without additional mobilisation – exceeds three and a half million people and is almost three times as large“, he added.
„NATO's aviation assets are three times the size of Russia's. The Alliance has four times as many anti-submarines and three times as many submarines“, the Polish diplomatic chief stressed.
He said the nominal gross domestic product of NATO and EU countries exceeds 45 trillion dollars. The combined GDP of Russia and Belarus is only 2.2 trillion dollars and is 20 times smaller,“ the Minister noted.
He also recalled, „In 2022, the fifteen most active NATO countries supporting Ukraine will spend more than $1.17 trillion on defence, while Russia will spend only $86.4 billion, or 14 times less.“
