Joint press conference

President Rinkēvičs, dear Edgars, thank you for hosting us. 

President Duda, dear Andrzej,
And also, President Klaus Iohannis,
Thank you for co-chairing this very important B9 Summit.

We have just finished important discussions on our preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit and how to further boost our support for Ukraine.
 
The B9 countries play a critical role in NATO’s strengthened deterrence and defence.

You host our eight multi-national battlegroups. 

You have increased the readiness of your forces. 

You lead by example on defence spending.

And you are at the forefront of Allied support to Ukraine.

 
Since 2014, NATO has implemented the largest reinforcement of our collective defence in a generation. 

We have put in place the most comprehensive defence plans since the end of the Cold War.

We have more troops on higher readiness, backed by substantial air and naval power. 

And there is increased defence spending across the whole NATO Alliance.

 
So let there be no doubt as to our ability to defend against any adversaries. 

NATO has the forces, resources, capabilities and the political will to defend every Ally.  

At the NATO Summit, I expect that Allies will take decisions to further strengthen our deterrence and defence. 

Agreeing to a greater role for NATO in coordinating training and equipment for Ukraine.

And committing to a long-term financial pledge. 

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Allies have provided around 40 billion euros worth of military support to Ukraine each year.

 
We must maintain this level of support for as long as necessary.
To ensure fresh funding every year. 

Credible, long-term support sends a clear message to President Putin that he cannot wait us out. 

So, thank you so much for hosting me. It's always a great pleasure to participate in the B9 meetings. Thank you.

- - - - - - - 

Moderator
Thank you, Mr Stoltenberg and we now open the floor for questions and please introduce yourself and to whom you would like to address the question.

Question 1
My question is to the Polish President and Secretary General of NATO. Recently a Polish soldier was killed at the Polish Belarusian border. He was killed by a migrant and we are seeing intensified hybrid operations. So the question is what should be done in order to make borders secure and is it a good idea to create a buffer zone at the Polish Belarus border?

NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg
Let me express my condolences to Poland for the soldier that lost his life and my thoughts goes to his family, his loved ones. Second, I think what we see along the border between Poland and Belarus is an example of different types of hybrid activities which we see as a pattern across the Alliance. Where migrants are used to try to intimidate neighbours but also how we have seen other activities by Russia, by Belarus to try to undermine the unity among NATO Allies in providing support to Ukraine. We have seen different sabotage attempts we have seen cyber attacks and we are also seeing a campaign of disinformation. This makes it even more important that we are united, that we are agile and that we are not intimidated to not provide support to Ukraine, and also that Allies continue to change intelligence, to increase our awareness and also to strengthen our protection of critical infrastructure as Allies have done over the last years.
Then, of course, many of these concrete incidents are actually issues where national authorities have to take actions – police. We have seen arrests across the Alliance, and of course there are ongoing legal processes. But what NATO can do is to increase awareness, exchange information, increase the protection of critical infrastructure, and ensure that we share intelligence in a way that help Allies to address these different types of hybrid threats.

President of Poland, Andrzej Duda [spoken through a translator]
Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, there are no words, which I could use to express, as President of Poland, our sorrow and our pain due to the death of our soldier who died in defence of our homeland, who died in defence of the Polish border who died in service while protecting our border. He was murdered on that border. He was killed, he was stabbed with a knife and this is an absolutely tragic situation for us. So we join in pain with his loved ones. And let me assure you of one thing as Poland we are going to prosecute the murderer until we get them. As long as we get them, as we detained them yesterday. Special guidelines have been released and the actions, the activities are going on. That is how much I can say on this one.

Now, concerning the border, we are protecting our border as much as we can. The Prime Minister announced that there will be a buffer zone created. Let me remind you, that situation of an extraordinary situation was already there before at the border. I do not know the details at this point. I do not know what the Polish government will be willing to propose. So it is difficult for me to answer the question right now but one thing is certain. We should take all the necessary steps to make sure that not only the border is as safe and as tight as it gets but also to make the security of our compatriots stronger, tighten the security of Poland, but also, we should go to all lengths to provide the security to enhance the security of our soldiers and officers who are guarding our border. This is of fundamental importance, which takes precedence over all others. This is the most crucial thing. And this is also what I raised during our meeting today, I described the situation because as you know, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday I went to the vicinity of the border. I met the border guards I also met our soldiers who are on service there as part of the taskforce who guards our border on a daily basis and all these issues were discussed in detail. We also raised the tragic event on the border, we analysed all of that. So such actions for sure will be taken in the nearest future. There will be also special laws introduced. Their aim is to enhance the security and also the possibilities our soldiers will have in order to repel the attacks in the border zone and generally attacks at Polish soldiers. So we are acting all the time. Tomorrow works will start on a draft law which I prepared as part of presidential legislative initiative. This act was prepared by the National Security Bureau.

Question 2
Mr President let me ask you about the presidential draft bill. Your initiative on the act in law concerning the actions taken by the state authorities in case of external danger or threat. Do you expect that all the parties will support this draft bill and that all the parties will agree while working on this draft law? Thank you very much.

President of Poland, Andrzej Duda [spoken through a translator]
Well, we call this a strategic act of law and we work together with the Ministry of Defence on working it out. We worked both with the former government, the government of the United Right, with Minister Mariusz Blaszczak as Defence Minister, but we continued those works, and we cooperated with the current leadership of the Ministry of Defence. We cooperated also with Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz who is the current Minister of Defence. This act stipulates certain provisions, these provisions should be enhanced. They concern the use of weapons by the soldiers, there are federal works now going on in the Ministry of Defence. This week, work is going to start on this project in the Polish parliament and we trust this work will provide a response to all of that what is happening right now. We hope that soldiers will be more protected legally, they will also have more clear possibilities of when they can use weapons in case of a threat. But first and foremost, those new provisions will regulate a lot of other things which we have experienced - experience on due to this war. We want to defend our territory and be able to react quickly.

Question 3
Good afternoon Latvian television I would like to ask everyone to comment regarding the following issue: failure to reach the agreement on all NATO countries supporting Ukraine because not all countries that participated in today’s summit believe in victory of Ukraine, such as Bulgaria, for example. And support for Ukraine is at the discretion of separate member states.

President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs [spoken through a translator]
Well, you're not entirely right. There is a joint communiqué that was adopted. And will be distributed by the co-chairs after the summit, which describes in great detail how we are going to continue our support to Ukraine in future in the long run. And what kind of agreements will be required from the member states during the Washington Summit. We are of course aware of some countries who have claimed that they will not provide direct military support to Ukraine. That's nothing new. I mean, such position has been held by those countries for a number of years. But nevertheless, we must work towards achieving a clear agreement during the Washington Summit. With regard to what kind of support Ukraine could expect in future, what was going to be the [inaudible], all of that is described eloquently in the communiqué or the statement that will be soon excluded by co-chairs. We were aware of these different positions. NATO's aware of it but I don't think anyone left the table not satisfied with the agreements that we reached today.

NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg
I think it's important to remember that since the beginning of this full-fledged war, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine back in February 2022, all Allies have been united. On the morning of the invasion, we agreed a very strong statement where we condemned the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, where we expressed our strong support to Ukraine and Ukraine's territorial integrity. And all Allies are providing support to Ukraine in different ways. Part of the support is provided through NATO through our Comprehensive Assistance Package that helps Ukraine to build their future force and also provide different types of non-lethal support. And then Allies are also providing different frameworks. military support to Ukraine, and 99% of the military support to Ukraine is provided by NATO Allies. But some Allies are also focusing on the non-lethal support while other Allies are providing lethal support. Then in the lead up to the Washington Summit, we are now working on a new important decisions to support Ukraine. I expect that we will be able to agree for a NATO stronger coordinating role in supporting Ukraine, providing training and security assistance. I am working for a decision to agree long-term financial commitment, and also that we're able to agree to move Ukraine closer to membership. So yes, of course there are some different views within the Alliance as to prepare for new important decisions at the Washington Summit. But as we have managed many times before, I am confident that we will also manage this time to agree on the exact framework for our support to Ukraine.

President of Poland, Andrzej Duda [spoken through a translator]
Ladies and gentlemen, let me stress one thing, there is no member state in NATO, which would not be supporting Ukraine, because as the North Atlantic Alliance, we are always speaking with one voice and all the decisions which are articulated by NATO are joint decisions. So saying that, this or another member of the North Atlantic Alliance has an extremely different opinion than the rest of NATO, is not really reflecting the common decisions which we are taking together within NATO. Of course, we have different understandings of, first of all, what it means for Ukraine to prevail, because yes there are differences on this perception. And secondly, states providing different kinds of assistance to Ukraine. Some countries are being more resolute, they are providing more advanced and military solutions, there is less. Nevertheless let me highlight that there is no single state which would not be supporting Ukraine as part of NATO.