Russia threatens Poland with destruction within days after NATO remarks

A senior Russian official has warned that Polish statehood would cease to exist within two or three days if Poland entered a military conflict with Russia, escalating a war of words following remarks by Poland's foreign minister about NATO's military capabilities. Nikolay Patrushev, an aide to President Vladimir Putin and a former secretary of Russia's Security Council, made the threat in an interview with Russian media. "If Poland enters into military action against Russia, our country will use the entire arsenal of forces and means at its disposal, and Polish statehood would cease to exist within two or three days," Patrushev stated, according to reports from Russian state media. The warning came in direct response to comments made by Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski at the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv on September 12-13. Sikorski asserted that if Russia attacked NATO, the alliance would defeat Russia "quite quickly" due to overwhelming air superiority. He estimated that European NATO members possess about 2,500 military aircraft, giving them a decisive advantage.