2024-04-12 03:23:24
“It is difficult for me to imagine such a situation that in the event of an attack, Lithuania would not receive help from NATO, as well as Poland. I am talking about military aid. The Polish army would come to defend Lithuania”, A. Duda told LRT television on Thursday.
According to the Polish leader, although we are not talking about military-level situations, mutual support can be agreed upon.
“Both Lithuania and Poland are members of NATO. There is a clear Article 5 obligation. If this commitment to collective defense were to be broken, it would be a catastrophe and it would indeed mean the disintegration of the Alliance,” he emphasized.
“The question arises about other situations that are worrying but would not yet trigger the activation of Article 5. Those issues must be resolved bilaterally between our countries, between our governments, because it is possible to agree on mutual support,” added A. Duda.
ELTA reminds that after United States (US) Reserve General Ben Hodges, who visited Lithuania at the end of February, stated that the Polish army would not come to the aid of Lithuania in case of war, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said that Polish laws do not really provide for such an obligation.
The Prime Minister’s remarks ignited debates in the public sphere – the Government received criticism for not having resolved these legal formalities yet. Others drew attention to NATO’s principles of collective defense and regional defense plans, claiming that I. Šimonytė’s statements do not correspond to reality.
Later, the Head of the Government claimed that she was misunderstood. According to I. Šimonytė, she never said and could not even say that neighboring Poland would not come to the aid of Lithuania in the event of an attack.
The fact that there are no legal restrictions for Poles to send soldiers to Lithuania in case of war was also assured by President Gitanas Nausėda.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who visited Lithuania at the beginning of March, also confirmed that the military solidarity of Vilnius and Warsaw is not in question.
2024-04-12 03:23:24