Head of BBN on NATO summit in Warsaw
We expect this year's NATO summit in Warsaw to be something more than the implementation of decisions taken in Newport, head of National Security Bureau (BBN) Pawel Soloch has told PAP.
The Warsaw NATO summit, to be held at the National Stadium on July 8 and 9, will be attended by some 2,500 delegates, including heads of governments and states, leaders of the UN, the EU and the World Bank. Some 1,500 reporters are expected to cover the event.
"In general, we expect this year's NATO summit in Warsaw to be something more than the implementation ofdecisions taken in Newport. As far as NATO's presence on its eastern flank, including Poland, is concerned, we expect that some directions will be laid down during a meeting of NATO defence ministers in February. And NATO's relations with Russia are another topic," Soloch said.
Soloch explained that cooperation in the NATO-Russia Council was limited to the ambassadorial level and stressed that no such meeting was held for over a year and added that it was planned after the meeting in February.
"Until the ongoing conflict with Ukraine is solved it is hard to imagine relations with Russia returning to the level from before the annexation of Crimea and other Russian moves against Ukraine. We expect that the summit will take a position on this matter and that a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council will be held in Warsaw. Such a declaration was made by President Andrzej Duda in Kiev," Soloch said.
The BBN head added that he wanted the Warsaw summit to stress the significance of NATO's relations with Ukraine.
"The Polish side will prepare proposals regarding steps designed to increase the security of border countries. The main thing here is military cooperation with the Baltic countries and the continuation of cooperation of the countries of the region discussed during a meeting in Bucharest," Soloch said.
"We expect the summit to confirm the unity and common position regarding all threats - those coming from the east, which interest us most, but also from the south," Soloch stressed.
Source: PAP