Polish PM: Putin worse than Hitler or Stalin
Food shortages, inflation and energy prices factored in to Kremlin’s ‘attritional’ tactics, claims spy chief
VLADIMIR PUTIN is more dangerous than Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, the Polish prime minister has warned as he called for the eradication of the Russian leader’s “monstrous ideology”.
In an exclusive article for The Daily Telegraph, Mateusz Morawiecki said Mr Putin’s arsenal of weapons was “deadlier” than those of Hitler or Stalin, adding that Mr Putin also had the internet at his disposal, which he has “infected … with millions of instances of fake news”.
Mr Putin’s “monstrous ideology” poses a deadly threat to Europe and must be rooted out, Mr Morawiecki said. It came as Avril Haines, the director of US national intelligence, told a Senate committee the Russian leader could fully mobilise his country or impose martial law if he felt the tide of war was turning against him.
Ms Haines said there were “indications” Mr Putin wanted to create a land bridge between Moscow and Moldova’s pro-russian breakaway region of Transnistria. She joined Mr Morawiecki in suggesting that Moscow’s ambitions would not stop at capturing Ukraine.
Mr Morawiecki accused Western leaders of forgetting the threat posed by Russia while Moscow spent three decades resurrecting the “demons of the past”.
He blamed Western ignorance for Mr Putin being allowed to develop ideologies akin to “20th-century com- munism and Nazism”. And he warned that if the Russian president was not defeated, the war in Ukraine would soon spill over into the rest of Europe.
“If we do not engage in this task immediately, we will not only lose Ukraine, we will lose our soul and our freedom and sovereignty, because Russia will not stop at Kyiv,” Mr Morawiecki said.
At a senate hearing in the US yesterday, Ms Haines said the conflict in Ukraine would likely be a long, gruelling war of attrition, which Mr Putin could decide to escalate.
VLADIMIR PUTIN is counting on a weakening of the West’s resolve as the cost of living crisis bites while he pursues a protracted war in Ukraine, America’s spy chief has warned.
Avril Haines, Joe Biden’s director of national intelligence, said Mr Putin’s decision to retreat from Kyiv and focus on the eastern Donbas region was a “temporary shift to regain the initiative” amid broader territorial ambitions.
She said it was a “war of attrition” with little “viable” hope of peace, and a Russian victory in Donbas may not end the conflict, with Mr Putin determined to build a land bridge to Transnistria, the pro-russian enclave in Moldova.
Ms Haines, who oversees Mr Biden’s daily intelligence briefing, said she expected Russia’s GDP to fall 10 per cent, possibly more, this year. But there was an increasing likelihood that Mr Putin will mobilise his entire country, including ordering martial law.
The top US intelligence official said: “Putin most likely judges that Russia has a greater ability, and willingness, to endure challenges than his adversaries, and he is probably counting on US and EU resolve to weaken as food shortages, inflation and energy prices worsen.
“We assess President Putin is preparing for a prolonged conflict in Ukraine during which he still intends to achieve goals beyond the Donbas. Putin faces a mismatch between his ambitions, and Russia’s conventional military capabilities – the next few months could see us moving along a more unpredictable and potentially escalatory trajectory.”
Appearing before the armed services committee in Congress, Ms Haines said she expected more “ad hoc decisionmaking” by Mr Putin, and an increasing potential for him to use “more drastic means, including imposing martial law, reorienting industrial production, or potentially escalatory military options”.
She said Mr Putin would also use “nuclear rhetoric” to deter the West. But Mr Putin “would probably only authorise the use of nuclear weapons if he perceived an existential threat to the Russian state or regime” she said.
US intelligence officials believe Mr Putin has four “near-term” objectives. He wants to take over Donbas, encircle Ukrainian forces west of Donbas, and consolidate a land bridge from Donbas to Crimea.
The fourth goal is to extend the land bridge west to take Odesa and reach Transnistria, in the process cutting off
‘Russia will increasingly rely on its nuclear deterrent to signal the West and project strength’
Ukraine from the sea. Ms Haines said the majority of the Russian people still supported what Mr Putin has called a “special military operation”.
She said: “It’s very hard for information to get into Russia. As both Russia and Ukraine believe they can continue to make progress militarily, we do not see a viable negotiating path forward, at least in the short term.”
She said Mr Putin may try to dent Washington’s support for Ukraine by authorising a large nuclear exercise involving intercontinental missiles, bombers and submarines.
Lt Gen Scott Berrier, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the hearing: “As this war slowly weakens Russian conventional strength, Russia likely will increasingly rely on its nuclear deterrent to signal the West and project strength.”