The Western countries should come up with a unified response to the "security challenge" allegedly posed by Russia, head of the National Security Bureau Pawel Soloch said Wednesday at the Warsaw Security Forum.
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2018) The Western countries should come up with a unified response to the "security challenge" allegedly posed by Russia, head of the National Security Bureau Pawel Soloch said Wednesday at the Warsaw Security Forum.
"Russia poses a strategic security challenge. Not just the security of Poland and the region, but the whole continent, and this challenge is global as well ... Our unity is as important as never before. Not just within the NATO, but within the whole Western community. Our response should be coordinated," Soloch said.
According to the Polish official, Moscow was "making attempts to undermine the global order and global security."
Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said at the same forum that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 could "give Russia yet another reason to increase its military presence in the Baltic Sea region."
Poland has repeatedly expressed its negative reaction toward the Nord Stream 2 planned pipeline. Polish President Andrzej Duda told his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in June that Warsaw was against the pipeline that would transport gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea.
In May, the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) initiated proceedings against Russian energy giant Gazprom, France's ENGIE, Austria's OMV, UK-Denmark's Royal Dutch Shell, and Germany's Uniper and Wintershall over Nord Stream 2's financing, which allegedly violates Poland's antitrust law. Gazprom has issued a notice of opposition to the UOKiK asking it to stop the antitrust investigation.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said in September that the United States and Poland were committed to advancing energy diversity in Europe. Back in September, Trump said also that Washington was considering Warsaw's invitation to set up a US military base in Poland.
Soloch said that Poland's plan to host a US base was an investment in the country's security.
"The United States is treating its responsibility of an ally seriously. One example of that is the talks about boosting the presence of the US forces in Poland," Soloch said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that a US division potentially deployed in Poland would be against the NATO-Russia Founding Act. Lavrov said back in 2016 that NATO was well aware that Russia would never attack any alliance member, but was using the alleged Russian threat as a pretext to deploy more troops and weapons in certain locations.
