Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has said Russian President Vladimir Putin is using hostile actions across Europe in an attempt to persuade Western countries to reduce their support for Ukraine.
Sikorski, who also serves as Poland’s deputy prime minister, argued that Russia’s campaign of sabotage, attempted attacks and disinformation was designed to intimidate European societies but was instead increasing awareness of the threat posed by Moscow.
“Putin wants us to stop supporting Ukraine,” Sikorski said, according to TVN24, while discussing recent hostile activity attributed to Russia in European countries.
In a separate interview with CNN, the Polish foreign minister said Putin had misjudged how democratic countries would react to Russian actions.
“I think Putin fundamentally misunderstands the psychology of democracies,” Sikorski said. He argued that Western governments initially underestimated the extent of Russia’s confrontation with Europe but were gradually changing their assessment.
“Putin has been waging war against us for a decade and for too long we did not accept that fact, but now we do,” he said.
Sikorski pointed to a series of incidents across Europe that governments and security services have attributed to Russian state actors or proxies, including sabotage operations, arson attacks and attempted attacks on transport infrastructure.
Poland has itself accused Russia of directing acts of sabotage on Polish territory. Warsaw has also supported action by Germany following German authorities’ attribution of an attempted attack at Leipzig Airport to Moscow.
Earlier this month, the Polish foreign ministry said it stood in solidarity with Germany over what it described as Russian “terrorist activities”, citing sabotage and attempted hybrid attacks against NATO and European Union countries.
Russia has rejected a number of Western allegations that it is behind sabotage operations in Europe and has accused European governments of using such claims to justify confrontation with Moscow.
Sikorski said the strategy was nevertheless having consequences different from those he believed the Kremlin intended.
He argued that attacks in Eastern Europe were strengthening the political case for substantially higher defence spending, while operations elsewhere were making the wider European public more aware that the security threat was not confined to countries bordering Russia or Ukraine.
Recent incidents have added to concerns about escalation.
On Sunday, a Russian drone strike hit railway infrastructure near Yahodyn in western Ukraine, around two kilometres from the Polish border. The attack damaged a passenger train travelling on the Kyiv-Warsaw route. No casualties were reported.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius described the strike as a deliberate escalation intended to intimidate European countries.
Poland has also increased its military readiness during Russian missile and drone attacks on western Ukraine, deploying aircraft and air-defence systems when strikes take place close to Polish territory.
Separately, Polish troops recovered a suspected Russian military drone from the Baltic Sea near Rusinowo on Monday. Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said an initial examination indicated that the aircraft was a Russian military unmanned aerial vehicle. Further analysis is under way.
Authorities have not publicly established any connection between the Baltic Sea discovery and Russia’s attacks in western Ukraine.
Sikorski has repeatedly argued that continued Western military support for Kyiv is part of Europe’s own defence rather than solely assistance to Ukraine.
During a visit to Latvia last week, he said Russia had not changed its objectives in the war and continued to reject ceasefire proposals that could create space for negotiations.
He said Putin appeared to believe that Russia still had ways of strengthening its position, while Ukraine’s allies should ensure that Kyiv’s own negotiating position continued to improve.
Sikorski has also cautioned against interpreting Russia’s hybrid campaign as evidence that Moscow is capable of launching a conventional invasion of NATO territory. In a CNN interview in July, he said Russia lacked the forces required for such an attack but could carry out provocations, sabotage or false-flag operations.
His latest comments come as European governments debate how to respond to Russian actions below the threshold of conventional warfare while continuing military and financial support for Ukraine.
Poland has been among the NATO members pressing for stronger deterrence on the alliance’s eastern flank, higher defence spending and continued assistance to Kyiv.
Sikorski’s argument is that Moscow’s current tactics are producing the opposite political result from the one he believes Putin intends: rather than persuading Europe to withdraw from Ukraine, they are strengthening the case for greater defence spending and continued resistance to Russian pressure.
