WARSAW, Poland \u2014 Poland hopes that a bolstered cooperation between the European Union and NATO, combined with the alliance\u2019s further enlargement, could spur a more robust approach to Moscow, according to senior Polish defense officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the the Warsaw Security Forum, an event organized by the Casimir Pulaski Foundation think tank, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Oct. 5 that closer ties between NATO and the EU are required to combat Russia\u2019s military-driven expansionism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need a strong partnership between NATO and the European Union that ensures a synergy of both organizations,\u201d Duda said. \u201cRussia is expanding its military presence and it endangers NATO not only from the east, but also from the north and south.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Duda said the EU\u2019s Strategic Compass, a strategy under development that is to define the bloc\u2019s security and defense policies, should be in harmony with the policies of NATO\u2019s Strategic Concept document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president\u2019s remarks were echoed in the speech by Pawe\u0142 Soloch, the head of Poland\u2019s National Security Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is an ongoing development of the military potential of the Russian Federation. On our part, this creates a need for a further adaptation of NATO\u2019s capacities, also with the use of the instruments held by the European Union,\u201d Soloch said. \u201cNaturally, NATO has a significantly larger potential than Russia, but on the alliance\u2019s borders, the forces accumulated by Russia give a tactical, and, for a defined time, also an operational advantage to this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With this in mind, Europe \u201cneeds to have a single strategy that merges the potential of NATO and the European Union,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking in the presence of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who also took part in the forum, Soloch said that \u201cNATO and the European Union must remain open for new members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, Ukraine\u2019s parliament passed legislation that reinstated NATO membership as the country\u2019s strategic foreign and security policy objective. The move came about three years after Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed the country\u2019s Crimean peninsula in a move designed to harm Kiev\u2019s western ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe entire Russian policy on NATO is based on an assumption that NATO\u2019s presence itself is a provocation. Whatever we do will be viewed by Russia as a provocation. So they only question is: will you do something, or will you not?\u201d Kuleba said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Washington on Oct. 5 that he had discussed options for enhanced support to Ukraine with U.S. President Joe Biden. With actual membership still some time in the future, alliance members could do more bolster the Ukraine\u2019s aspirations in the fields of security-sector reform and anti-corruption, for example, Stoltenberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sebastian Sprenger in Washington contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Poland hopes that a bolstered cooperation between the European Union and NATO, combined with the alliance\u2019s further enlargement, could spur a more robust approach to Moscow, according to senior Polish defense officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":114939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[8617,8628],"coauthors":[3389],"class_list":["post-56135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","tag-poland","tag-ukraine"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"EPAFTKDXIBAWTKBJVJBM6TKVYQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2021\/10\/05\/poland-calls-for-enhanced-eu-nato-cooperation-amid-russian-buildup\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n