Joint press conference

President Duda, Dear Andrzej,

Welcome back to NATO Headquarters. It is always a pleasure to receive you here.

Poland is a committed NATO Ally, contributing to our shared security in many different ways.

Including with troops for our missions and operations; regular contributions to air and maritime patrols; and with your leading example on defence spending.

There is also a lot of NATO in Poland.

Including a multinational battlegroup as part of our defensive presence in the region.
As well as our Multinational Corps Northeast, and a site for our ballistic missile defence.

So Poland stands with NATO, and NATO stands with Poland.

We just had a very good discussion about current security challenges.

Including Russia’s continued military build-up near Ukraine.
And the situation on the border between Belarus and Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

All NATO Allies have made clear that they strongly condemn the Lukashenko regime’s exploitation of vulnerable people to pressure neighbouring countries.

This is inhumane and cynical.
And we stand in full solidarity with the Allies affected.

We also addressed the Russian military build-up near Ukraine’s borders.

We see large and unusual concentration of forces combined with aggressive rhetoric and disinformation from Moscow.

So we call on Russia to be transparent, reduce tensions and de-escalate.

NATO remains vigilant.
And we continue to provide Ukraine with political and practical support.

This is not a threat to Russia.
And it helps Ukraine to defend itself from aggression.

NATO Foreign Ministers will meet in Riga next week.
They will assess the security situation.
And meet with their Ukrainian and Georgian counterparts.
Another strong sign of our support. 
So President Duda,
Thank you again for coming today.

I look forward to working with you to strengthen our Alliance as we prepare for the upcoming Summit in Madrid.  So please, welcome.