Russia will continue to be a threat to central and eastern Europe regardless of its political system, Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki said during a meeting with his Lithuanian and Ukrainian counterparts on Sunday.
The three leaders gathered in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1863 January Uprising against Russian rule.
The rebellion aimed to restore the independent Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – which included territory from all three countries and Belarus – which Tsarist Russia had partitioned and controlled. It was eventually brutally suppressed the following year by imperial Russian forces.
During a joint press conference standing alongside Gitanas Nauseda and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Polish president pointed out that although 163 years have passed since the uprising, Russia is still a threat to the region of Central and Eastern Europe.
“Policies backing a ‘reset’ with the Russian Federation are disappearing, but one thing remains unchanged: whether it’s Tsarist Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or Vladimir Putin’s Russia, our countries, now independent, still face the same threat from the Russian Federation,” Nawrocki said.
He added: “The countries of central and eastern Europe were not wrong in their opinions about the Russian threat, even at a time when western Europe was still focused on climate policy or letting in illegal immigrants.”
The president also said it is important that voices from the region and formats such as the Lublin Triangle – under which Sunday’s meeting was held – are heard around the world.
Defense cooperation
Nawrocki also complimented his hosts for their high defense spending, which is forecast to reach 5.4% of GDP, overtaking Poland’s own.
“Poland allocates nearly 5% of GDP to the development of the Polish armed forces. We have the most powerful army in the region, with over 200,000 Polish soldiers. Therefore, I am full of praise for Lithuania,” he told the assembled media.
The president said Polish troops will also be able to undertake exercises at a new Lithuanian training area in the Suwałki Gap border area connecting the two countries.
The narrow strip of land between Russia’s Kaliningrad and Belarus is often talked about as flash point in any potential future conflict as it would cut the Baltic states off from the rest of Europe.
However, locals in Lithuania are not happy with plans to expand the training field which will cut down trees and force some families to relocate.
But Nawrocki was upbeat: “I believe that all the problematic social issues can be resolved so that the infrastructure needed for the entire region can be built.”
Earlier in the day, the heads of state attended a ceremony at Vilnius Cathedral to mark the January Uprising.
Nawrocki said the revolt, although militarily unsuccessful, had been a moral and spiritual victory.
“It awakened the conscience of nations. It preserved their identity. It passed on to future generations the message that surrender is not an option,” he added.
He noted that thanks to this conviction, Poland and Lithuania were able to regain independence in 1918. “And thanks to it, today we are able to call things by their proper names: aggression as aggression, and freedom as freedom.”
Nawrocki added that history comes “full circle” and that its most dangerous moments always begin with attempts to deprive others of the right to freedom.
“But it is up to us whether it comes full circle as a return to bondage, or as confirmation that Europe has drawn conclusions from its past,” he said.
The Polish president added that the question of whether it is “worth fighting” belongs not only to the past but also to the present day “in a world in which imperial aggression is once again reviving.”