Zbigniew Rau made the statement at a news conference following a series of meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
Speaking to reporters at the Polish embassy in Washington, Rau said: “The awareness that the eastern flank of NATO currently needs strengthening, primarily in terms of what we in NATO call deterrence, dominates today.”
He added he had recently taken part in many discussions on the issue, including with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
“Nobody needs persuading that a symmetry must be maintained, in relation to developments around Ukraine, but also in relation ... to Russia’s obviously increased military presence in Belarus,” Rau told reporters.
“This is a dominant view now,” he said, adding: “I haven’t heard anyone say that this one deployment of troops, including to Poland, would be enough.”
The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that the United States would send 1,700 extra troops to Poland and around 1,000 to Romania to reassure its Eastern European NATO allies in the face of a major Russian military buildup near Ukraine.
Talks with US lawmakers
Rau also told reporters that all of his meetings in the US Congress on Thursday focused on boosting NATO’s eastern edge. He held talks with the chairman of the US Helsinki Commission, Ben Cardin, as well as Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Jim Risch, among others, the PAP news agency reported.
In addition, Rau met with Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state in Donald Trump’s administration.
Asked by reporters if Europe was divided on the form and strength of its response to potential Russian aggression against Ukraine, Poland’s top diplomat said there was "agreement on the issue," PAP reported.
The highlight of the opening day of Rau’s visit to Washington was his appearance before the US Helsinki Commission. Speaking in his capacity as Chairperson-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), he said that an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine could spawn Europe’s most significant crisis since World War II.
Rau added that such a crisis would have global repercussions and endanger Poland as well. However, such a scenario can be averted if the international community maintains "a united stance," he told the news conference.
Later on Thursday, Poland’s top diplomat was set to attend the launch of the Washington office of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), a government-affiliated Polish think tank.
Meeting with Blinken
On Friday, Rau is set to meet with Blinken for talks that are expected to focus on Europe’s energy security and nuclear power, among other topics, reporters were told.
The Polish foreign minister is also expected to lay wreaths at a monument dedicated to Polish-American liberty hero Tadeusz Kościuszko near the White House, before sitting down for a discussion with President Joe Biden’s top Asian affairs advisor Kurt Campbell.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP
