Clear standpoint of President Duda on Russia: They are not our enemies. It is a neighbour with whom we do not agree on all matters

Russia is a neighbour, with whom we do not agree on all matters, some of its actions are unacceptable, but it is necessary to create opportunities for improving relations; no country can be absolutely isolated.

I want to stress one thing very strongly. I would not wish us to fall into rhetoric that is absolutely illegitimate. There is no enemy. No enemy exists today. No one is attacking the North Atlantic Alliance today. Perhaps we can call the enemy state entities, i.e. terrorist organisations of various types, which allow themselves to attack either the citizens of NATO countries or NATO soldiers. It is indeed fair to speak of an enemy in this case. However, we absolutely cannot, today, speak of any kind of enemy on an inter-state level. Such a situation does not exist today, and I would like to stress this most emphatically

— emphasized President Andrzej Duda.

He pointed out that Russia is a neighbour of Poland, with which we do not agree on all matters.

We have a different point of view on many issues and we believe that certain actions taken by Russia are unacceptable. However there is no question of any hostility

— said the president.

We expect that the order that was established after the Second World War, as far as the borders are concerned, and also after ‘89, when the peaceful political changes were taking place (…), we do not agree that this order should be changed by force

— said Duda.

He added that in recent years „unfortunately Russia has undertaken such actions”. As examples he gave Georgia, the occupation of Crimea and the fact that „Ukraine does not have full control over part of its territory”.

President Duda expressed his conviction that all NATO members expect Russia to restore the previous state of affairs.

Tłum.K.J.