Poland's Sikorski recalled how Putin promised not to invade Ukraine

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said the country needs to accelerate preparations for its defence and compared Russian assurances to CIA Director John Ratcliffe that Putin does not want to provoke NATO with promises not to invade Ukraine.

"Apparently, Putin's spooks told CIA Director he would not provoke NATO. Putin had told president Biden's CIA Director that he would not invade Ukraine. We should accelerate defence preparations," Sikorski wrote on X.

The statement came amid media reports that during his visit to Moscow, Ratcliffe warned Russian officials not to escalate the conflict with US allies in NATO, particularly Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Sikorski thus recalled that similar assurances that Russia may have given Ratcliffe were also given to Joe Biden's administration ahead of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The New York Times reported that during a secret visit to Moscow this week, Ratcliffe shared his pessimistic assessment of the state of Russia's war against Ukraine and urged the Russians to reach a deal before their military and economic situation deteriorates further.

US President Donald Trump said that he was not concerned that Russia could attack NATO countries.