National Security Bureau head in UK
Meetings with British cabinet officials and a visit to the command of the Navy and NATO Response Force (NFR) are planned during a visit to Great Britain by Head of Poland's National Security Bureau (BBN) Pawel Soloch.
Soloch is paying a visit to Great Britain at the invitation from PM Theresa May's National Security Adviser Mark Lyall Grant who also is secretary of the National Security Council. The visit is planned as the continuation of moves aimed at the strengthening of Warsaw's and London's partnership launched during intergovernmental consultations in London in the autumn of 2016.
Polish-British relations, Britain's plans regarding its functioning in the European security and defence system after Brexit, relations with the US and Russia, and the strengthened presence of NATO on the eastern flank, including British soldiers who are to station in Poland, will be in the focus of Soloch's talks.
On Monday, Pawel Soloch will meet with Minister of State for European Affairs sir Alan Duncan and director general of the Ministry of Defence Peter Watkins. He will also visit the Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBRA) where debates are held when national security is threatened.
On Monday evening at the Polish Embassy, the BBN head will posthumously promote the late Alan Mackowiak (Alan Mack), a legendary instructor of the Polish so-called "Silent-Unseen" (or "Silent-Dark Ones") paratroopers, to the rank of general, and will decorate 89-year-old Aureliusz Zenon Dembinski, who took part in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and was a soldier of the Polish Second Corps in Italy, with the Order of the Cross of Independence. The Commander's Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order will be posthumously bestowed upon the late general Kazimierz Draczynski.
On Tuesday, Pawel Soloch will meet Lord Howe, the deputy defence minister responsible for relations with NATO countries, will visit the RAF base in Northolt in West London and the Polish War Memorial honouring Polish pilots defending Britain during WW2.
While in Britain, Soloch is also to visit two NATO bases: MARCOM in Northwood and ARRC in Gloucester.
According to PAP, while at MARCOM Pawel Soloch will likely meet with admiral Clive Johnstone, and while at ARRC - with general Tim Radford. The visit will end on Wednesday.
Source: PAP