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Polish FM to visit US, address UN Security Council next week

16.02.2023 09:30
Poland’s foreign minister is set to travel to the United States next week, where he will address the United Nations Security Council on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Zbigniew Rau.
Zbigniew Rau.PAP/Tomasz Gzell

Zbigniew Rau made the announcement in a media interview on Wednesday night, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Poland’s top diplomat told the state-run TVP Info news channel that he would head to America following US President Joe Biden’s visit to Poland.  

Biden’s visit to Poland

Referring to Biden’s trip from February 20 to 22, Rau said "the American leader didn’t have to choose Poland.”

“However, if we look at the map of Europe today, then Poland is a natural choice because we are the keystone of NATO’s eastern flank," Rau added. "Besides Poland and the Baltic states are providing the biggest assistance to Ukraine per capita. We are the absolute leaders in this respect.”

“For purely logistical reasons, Poland is the hub without which effective support to Ukraine would be difficult to imagine today,” Rau also said. 

UN 'is a particular target for Russian disinformation': Polish FM

Rau said he would travel to America on the last day of the US president’s visit to Poland, "mainly to address the UN Security Council.”

He told TVP Info: “It’s a collective initiative to mark the anniversary of Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. We have been invited to speak, as the country that is especially supportive of Ukraine.”

Poland’s top diplomat said his UN speech would be important because the international organisation, which brings together virtually all the countries of the world, “is a particular target for Russian disinformation.”

Rau said: "Not everywhere is the issue of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine perceived in the same way as among the members of the trans-Atlantic community, or broadly speaking the free world.”

He added that "Russian propaganda has been partly successful” in parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia, “because our presence in this debate, in this discourse, has not been satisfactory.” 

Thursday is day 358 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, tvp.info