President: NATO guards international law
NATO is a defensive alliance, but above all it stands guard over international law, President Andrzej Duda said at the Petawawa military base in Canada on Tuesday.
President Duda, at the base as part of his ongoing Canadian visit, thanked Canadian soldiers "for service as part of NATO that has strengthened and continues to strengthen Central and Eastern Europe's security", including Poland's.
At present Canadians are taking part in exercises in Poland in the Reassurance operation, and in June will take part in this year's Anaconda manoeuvres, the biggest military exercise in Poland after 1989.
Canadians served in Poland at a difficult time, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Duda said. "Your presence in our country showed that we do not wave aside the problem of lawless violation of borders in Europe, that we do not consent to it", he added.
"NATO's character as an alliance is defensive, but above all NATO always stands guard over international law and is against lawlessness", President Duda pointed out.
The president underlined that Poles and Canadians shared a long history of fighting for freedom: they fought together on the front lines of World War II, for example in Normandy where Polish General Stanislaw Maczek's 1st Armoured Division fought as part of the Canadian corps. Soldiers from the two countries fought shoulder to shoulder in the battle of Monte Cassino, Duda added.
Source: president.pl; PAP