Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, in an interview with AFP, drew parallels between the current policy of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the course followed by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. According to Sikorski, the Russian president is repeating the past mistakes of the Soviet Union by excessively increasing military spending.
Sikorski quoted Putin himself, who had previously said that “excessive spending on armaments” led to the collapse of the USSR, and added that in his opinion, Russia is now moving along a similar path.
This statement came shortly after the Russian president mentioned a potential reduction in defense spending on June 27 as a measure to curb inflation.
The Kremlin has not yet commented on this comparison to the Brezhnev era.
