Poland will expand its defensive potential, and plans to spend over 4 percent of its GDP on defense in 2023, Poland’s president said in an interview for the French daily Le Figaro.
The full text of the interview was published on Saturday evening on the presidential office’s website. “Poland is expanding its defensive potential. In 2023 we will channel more than 4 percent of GDP to defense, this is twice as much as expected from NATO allies. We are building common security – one for all, all for one,” Andrzej Duda said in the interview.
🔴 #Pepites Prezydent Andrzej Duda w sobotnio-niedzielnym wydaniu „Le Figaro” z dużą rozmową o Polsce, Ukrainie, Europie i przyszłości Rosji. https://t.co/82LrsKl59H
— Wszystko Co Najważniejsze (@Najwazniejsze) February 11, 2023
Commenting on Poland’s relations with the US, the president said they “extended beyond words”, and as an example named the presence of nearly 10,000 US troops in Poland as part of reinforcements on the eastern NATO flank.
When asked if he could imagine a Russian attack on his country, Duda said an attack on Poland would mean “an attack on NATO”, and said he would believe in a “prompt and decided response” if such a scenario would become real.
“We have done everything to join NATO, precisely in order to receive a guarantee from Article 5 of the Treaty,” he emphasized.
Andrzej Duda, dont le pays est en première ligne aux côtés de l’Ukraine depuis le début de la guerre, s’est confié au «Figaro».
➡️ https://t.co/1kpG9rstgh pic.twitter.com/ndB10A7NBU
— Le Figaro (@Le_Figaro) February 11, 2023
Commenting on the possible outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war, Andrzej Duda said Ukraine could lose without the West’s firm military support. He added that arms supplies should reach Ukraine within weeks. However, the president warned that if Putin would win this war “there was no knowing where he might stop.”
Duda also praised the Polish nation for their support of Ukrainian refugees.
“The Poles have not forgotten what Russian occupation is, what a Russian invasion means, and the conduct of Russian troops. Their arrival means death and brutality,” the president told the French newspaper.