00:00A new poll revealed over two-thirds of Europeans believe their country would not be able to defend
00:07itself militarily against a Russian attack. The findings come just days after President
00:13Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready if Europe wants to wage war. The country with the highest
00:19confidence in its military's ability to take on Russia was France, although the majority of the
00:25respondents still had a negative outlook. The lowest rates were registered in Belgium, Italy and
00:30Portugal. According to the authors of the poll, geography plays a key role. Countries that feel
00:37less capable are geographically distant from Russia and therefore least likely to engage in direct
00:43military confrontation with Moscow. In response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine,
00:50the EU has been pushing a massive rearmament effort, with hundreds of billions of euros poured
00:55in defence spending by EU countries. Yet the lack of confidence of the general public suggests that
01:02the many announcements made by member states to do so is not resonating with a large segment of
01:08the European population.
