Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, says the Russian leader’s ‘monstrous ideology’ poses a deadly threat to Europe
By Joe Barnes, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT
10 May 2022 •
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 Telegraph, Mateusz Morawiecki said Putin’s arsenal of weapons was “deadlier” than those of Hitler and Stalin, adding that he also had the internet at his disposal which he was “infected… with millions of instances of fake news”.
The “monstrous ideology” of Putin’s regime posed a deadly threat to Europe and must be rooted out entirely, 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.
The intelligence chief said there were “indications” Putin wanted to create a land bridge between Moscow and Moldova’s pro-Russian breakaway region Transnistria.
She joined Mr Morawiecki in suggesting that Moscow’s ambitions would not stop at capturing Ukraine.
Mr Morawiecki accused Western leaders of “blissfully forgetting” the threat posed by Russia while Moscow spent three decades resurrecting the “demons of the past”.
He blamed Western ignorance for Putin being allowed to develop ideologies akin to “20th-century communism and Nazism”.
And he warned that if the Russian president was not dealt a defeat, 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, as well. Because Russia will not stop at Kyiv. She has set out on a long march towards the West and it’s up to us to decide where we stop her,” Mr Morawiecki said.
He said just as “denazification was crucial for Germany, the only chance for Russia and the civilised world is “deputinisation”.
‘Long, gruelling battle of attrition’
At a Senate hearing in the US on Tuesday, Ms Haines said the war in Ukraine would likely be a long, gruelling battle of attrition, which could prompt Putin to escalate the conflict further.
Ms Haines suggested Putin believes that his resolve is greater than Ukraine’s Western supporters, further worsening the cost of living crisis facing the West.
“He is probably counting on the US and EU resolve to weaken as food shortages, inflation and energy prices get worse,” she said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Wednesday travel to Sweden and Finland, whcih are both preparing their applications to join the Nato alliance.
Selected comments from readers;
Kiat Huang
“Sanctions need to be joined by a complete blockade of Russian goods and services into Europe and the majority of countries in the world who want this war to stop and for Russia to pay for the devastation they have caused.
Russia can not be persuaded by reason to stop their invasion, nor their pattern of aggression and imperialism over neighbouring countries. No, Russia needs to be forced to comply.
Russia is like a mad, crazed, dangerous dog or as a Ukrainian friend told me “a monkey with a hand grenade”. Either way, for everyone’s safety that crazed, aggressive animal needs to be physically restrained and defeated, mentally. It needs to know that it is beat.
It will be hard for the Russian people to accept that they can and have been beaten soundly. Just as the Germans were in WWII. But be beaten in war, both militarily and economically, they must.
Only then will Russians finally – once their propaganda has been stripped away – understand what they had become and the damage that they have caused to the people that share the world with them. From that basis, like the Germans, the Japanese and the Italians they will be genuinely remorseful and become much more peaceful and docile militarily. At that point, joining NATO might even be as possible then, as it is unthinkable now.
The klepto-autocrats will be gone. Ordinary Russians will share in the wealth of the country and the median standard of living will rise towards Western European levels. There will be far less polarisation between the crude peasant class of the villages (that are supplying virtually all the fighting men of a Russia’s invasion) with the urbane metropolitans.
Europe, and the world, will be better and more peaceful for it.”
Charles Despeville
“Morawiecki is right. Putin’s Russia is a fascist, thug, aggressive, pariah country that is brainwashing its population since early age. Just watch this popular russian song with English subtitles where young children sing about going to their last battle for “uncle Vova” (i.e. Putin) and at 3:26 about “bringing Alaska back to family home”…:
https://youtu.be/pfP7lTXYeJg
Jen Herbert
“Our hearts break for the families torn apart by this terrible war. We, here, cannot fully imagine the scale of terror Ukraine and her neighbours are experiencing.
However, to say the existence of a certain ideology makes one more dangerous than Hitler or Stalin is another expression of wokeism, and, dare I say it, mere cancel culture rhetoric that will certainly not worry Putin – indeed, may even further feed and justify his murderous crusade. If its the possession of heavy weaponry that is the factor, that makes the US and NATO far more dangerous.
We want peace to return but please, can we try and raise the level of rhetoric, debate and discussion from our leaders.”
Bernadette Bowles
Reply to Jen Herbert
“It is the simple truth. I suggest you read some 20th century history. Putin is channelling Stalin at home, and Hitler in his aggression to his neighbours. But he has a large nuclear arsenal, as they did not, and has threatened to use it.
Yes, it appears his military is not the world’s second most powerful as we all believed, just the second most powerful in Ukraine. But sadly that makes him more, not less, dangerous. The USSR leaders post Stalin did have increasing nuclear arsenals – but they were neither insane nor suicidal. They pushed boundaries, but would not cross them. Putin is clearly not himself; ill? insane? Who knows? There is no certainty what he may do; it is not just the possession of military hardware which poses a threat but the likelihood of its being used. Biden is no warmonger; NATO is a purely defensive organisation. No NATO member is going to directly involve themselves in this war, nor attack Russia.”
LOL! “A monkey with a hand grenade” sums it up nicely.
What has caused this insane rat to wage this terrible war on Ukraine? That’s right, appeasement. All those who never saw it coming should be put on trial. It was their responsibility to do the right thing, and they screwed up all along the line, from top to bottom. Or, they profited handsomely, which makes it even worse.