“Russia will not attack a strong opponent, which is why Poland is building up its land forces, Poland’s defence minister said in an interview for Monday’s issue of the “Sieci” weekly, fragments of which appeared online on Sunday.

Explaining the military buildup plans, Mariusz Blaszczak reminded that Poland was on the frontline of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and also shared a border with Russia as well as its ally Belarus, hence needed sufficient defences to deter potential threats.

Blaszczak said Poland will soon have the strongest land army of all the European Nato countries, and suggested that its size and strength should suffice to ward off any threat from Russia.

He added that Russia was unlikely to attack a country with a strong army.

“The… Kremlin will not strike out at someone strong. They attack if they see a weak spot. There will not be a stronger country in Europe when it comes to artillery and armoured troops. We will have the strongest land forces of all the European Nato states,” Blaszczak said.

Asked if Poland was prepared for a Russian missile strike, Blaszczak informed that the first of a tranche of Patriot missile units ordered by Poland in 2018 should arrive in Poland still this year.

Blaszczak said the construction of a multi-level missile defence system for Poland was well advanced. 

Poland among leaders of arms spending

Poland is seen as one of the leaders among countries which have been increasing spending on armaments and army modernisation, according to the Foreign Affairs magazine.

The magazine reported that Poland wanted to raise its military spending from 2.1 per cent to 3 per cent in 2023 and that this increase was planned to cover the significant development of the army, along with the doubling of the number of its units.

The magazine claims, that the war in Ukraine is one of the main causes of growing outlays on armaments, but this trend has been rooted in an earlier tendency.

“In the days after Russia invaded Ukraine, a host of countries announced momentous hikes in military spending. Canada and the United States both released plans for new military expenditures,” the magazine wrote, adding that so did Australia.

“Josep Borrell, the EU’s top foreign policy official, has called for the bloc to spend together, more, and better on its armed forces,” the magazine said.

According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), experts quoted by the magazine, before Russia’s aggression against Ukraine global spending on armaments reached “a post-Cold War peak” of USD 2.1 billion, up from USD 1.2 billion in 1999.

And today, global outlays on arms could exceed USD 2.3 billion, the magazine wrote.

Foreign Affairs is an American magazine focusing on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-profit, organisation and think tank specialising in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs.