Poland would be the first to help if the Baltic states were attacked, the country’s Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Thursday.
“I, if I were defence minister at the time, would direct a request to the government, to the president, for Poland to be the first to step in with assistance, with the invocation of [NATO’s collective security] Article Five, with all the consequences for the Republic of Poland and for Polish society,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said during a public discussion.
“Because if we don't do it, we'll lose that space,” he was quoted by Poland’s TVP as saying. “And if we lose that space, in a moment we'll be the ones begging for help.”
His comments mark a change from previous remarks in Warsaw, when the right-wing PiS government said the military would prioritise the defence of Poland. Such statements previously caused criticism in Lithuania.Kosiniak-Kamysz’s comments also follow an earlier poll, showing that some 77.8 percent of Polish people would back sending help if the Baltic states were attacked by Russia.
Only 16.1 percent held the opposing view in the IBRIS poll conducted for Poland’s Radio Zet and published earlier this week.
