The world’s largest defense contractors flocked to Poland this week for an annual trade show, days after Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government unveiled a record $48.7 billion military budget.
That budget would be 4.7 percent of Poland gross domestic product – a number that is well above any country in either NATO or the European Union. And much of that money will be used to continue buying large amounts of military equipment, especially from the US and South Korea.
Last year, Poland was the largest buyer of weapons from the US. Warsaw has bought Patriot missile defense systems, F-35 fighters, Apache attack helicopters and Patriot air defense systems.
“It is a great effort, but there’s no turning back from it,” Tusk said in late August.
Poland has ramped up its military since Russia invaded Ukraine – which borders Poland – more than two years ago. One of Vladimir Putin’s top aides has suggested that the war could extend into Poland, especially if Ukraine gets the go-ahead from its allies to begin using Western-supplied missiles for long-range attacks into Russia.
“Obviously, we need to create a buffer zone for the future to ensure that nothing flies in,” the deputy chairman of the Russian security council, Dmitry Medvedev, told the state-owned news agency TASS. “Its size is anyone’s guess, but it should be sufficient. If they (Ukraine) wish to get long-range means of attack, such as cruise and ballistic missiles, then this buffer zone should stretch as far as Poland.”
Any Russian action that involves Polish territory could trigger action by other members of NATO, since the alliance’s treaty considers an attack on any members to be an attack on all of them.
