Morawiecki told a joint press conference with Simonyte that their talks focused on strengthening defence policy and joint military exercises in the face of a military threat coming from Russia.
Rafał Guz/PAP

Poland and Lithuania show that together we can build a united, strong Europe, Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish Prime Minister, said after the Tuesday meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart Ingrida Simonyte in Vilnius.

He told a joint press conference with Simonyte that their talks focused on strengthening defence policy and joint military exercises in the face of a military threat coming from Russia.

“We know perfectly well that if we want peace, we must prepare for war,” he said.

Morawiecki assessed that the role of Poland and Lithuania is “enormous” amid Russian propaganda and that “if we speak with Lithuania with one voice, it is a significant strengthening of Poland’s voice on the international arena.”

He also argued that the Central and Eastern Europe is under a geopolitical curse.

“But we have shown that we do not intend to succumb to the judgments of history. We survived totalitarianism, Soviet totalitarianism, but today this Russian imperialism is rearing its head again, and hence our joint actions with other Central European states and the Baltic states are so important,” Morawiecki said.

According to him, “the war in Ukraine… is a moment of historical awakening.”

“Ukrainians reminded us of the existence of values that are worth living for, but also worth dying for,” Morawiecki said, adding that “the idea of a sovereign state is something timeless.”

Simonyte said that Lithuania and Poland share a special partnership.

“Historically, our nations have always been united by a desire for freedom and a clear understanding that only united we are strong,” she said.

According to her, Lithuania and Poland are today among the most active supporters of Ukraine in defending it against brutal Russian aggression.

“We understand well that Russia, blinded by its imperial ambitions, is trespassing not only on the freedom of Ukraine, but also on the freedom of democratic values and the rules-based world order of our nations and of Europe as a whole, Simonyte argued.

She highlighted the importance of defence cooperation between the two countries.

“Without a safe Lithuania, there can be no safe Poland and vice versa,” Simonyte said.