Today we have brutal Russia, which is practicing a nuclear attack on Warsaw together with Belarus - in computer simulations - so we cannot be defenceless, we cannot stand idly by and watch it

— said Witold Waszczykowski, MEP of the Law and Justice party, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the „Panorama Opinii” programme in TVP Info.

For many years, we have assumed that our Polish-American relations should be developed in many ways. I reminded you colloquially that a country such as China did not make money from trading with Africa, but from extensive relations with the United States

— said the former head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commenting on the visit of President Andrzej Duda to the United States.

In his opinion, security is the most important thing for Poland, but the business part is equally important.

We want the American flag not only to fly over the consulate and the base, but also over business. At the moment, President Andrzej Duda is doing it

— he added.

We joined NATO in 1999, but (…) NATO only started to enter Poland in 2016, because in 2015 President Duda and then our government made it clear that there must be a presence here. Let there be any adjective before this presence: rotational, permanent, but the presence must be there. Because otherwise no help will reach us

— reminded Witold Waszczykowski.

The first permanent American base, which will last for several dozen years, has been built in 2016, near Redzikowo. It was already negotiated in 2007-2008, but then the Polish authorities, namely PO-PSL government decided that relations with the Americans did not give us any benefits

— he said.

Today we have brutal Russia which, together with Belarus, is practising a nuclear attack on Warsaw in computer simulations, so we cannot be defenceless, we cannot stand idly by and watch this happen

— marked Waszczykowski.

As he stressed, the aim of the Law and Justice government is to diversify and become independent of politically motivated supplies of Russian gas.

And that is what we are doing. After 2022 and 2023, we will be able to become completely independent of Russian gas, which can be used as an instrument of political pressure or blackmail. And this is what we want to avoid

— said the member of the Law and Justice party.

Tłum. K.J.