Poland’s foreign minister says arms race between Russia, West could trigger Putin’s downfall

ATHENS

A new Cold War-style arms race between Russia and the West could trigger the downfall of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Thursday.

“He is waging a very expensive war and also provoked, scared the whole West into reinforcing its defense spending. We are doing it because Putin is threatening us,” Sikorski said in an interview with France’s AFP, Germany’s DPA and Poland’s PAP news agencies after NATO leaders agreed Wednesday at a summit in The Hague to increase defense spending.

“This means that from an economy the size of Texas, Putin will have to squeeze out even more defense funds. Hopefully with a similar result for the regime (to that of the Soviet Union), but faster,” he added.

NATO member states pledged at the summit to allocate 5% of GDP annually by 2035 to meet both core defense requirements and broader security needs.