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Polish president to call for new NATO strategy at Brussels summit

24.03.2022 09:00
Poland’s president has said he will call on NATO “to modify its concept” at a special summit of the alliance's leaders in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday.
Polands President Andrzej Duda.
Poland's President Andrzej Duda.PAP/Paweł Supernak

Andrzej Duda will stress the need for a change in NATO’s strategy after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland's PAP news agency reported.

After attending the meeting of NATO leaders, the Polish president is due to lunch with his counterparts from the Baltic states before talking to reporters at the Western military alliance's Brussels headquarters.

On Wednesday, Duda told a news conference that NATO needed “a completely new approach” in view of the situation in Belarus and the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Polish state news agency reported.

'Permanent NATO presence on eastern flank'

The president said that the alliance must develop “a permanent, defensive presence” on its eastern flank.  

He is set to call for more security assistance from NATO for Poland and the region, officials told reporters.

Earlier this week, Duda visited MoldovaBulgaria and Romania to forge a common regional stance ahead of the NATO summit and US President Joe Biden’s visit to Warsaw, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

Duda told reporters that NATO leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday would discuss “further measures the alliance can take in relation to Russia” in terms of “military policy and sanctions.”

The Polish president is expected to formally present Warsaw's recent proposal for NATO to send a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine, according to officials.

Thursday is day 29 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, nato.int