Pelosi praises Poland’s support for Ukraine in conversation with FM Rau

US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed admiration for Poland’s firmness in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine, during her meeting with Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau. The officials also discussed Russia’s potential moves in relation to the war in Ukraine.

The Polish FM said that he talked with the US official about Ukraine and the scenarios that will result from this war and thanked the US congress for its continued military support for Poland and Ukraine.

On the last day of the visit to Washington, FM @RauZbigniew met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives @SpeakerPelosi.

Minister Rau expressed thanks for Congress' support for the expansion of the military presence in Poland and called for continued support for Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/uoGYLKeLxf

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) September 29, 2022

“First of all, I thanked the Speaker for American leadership in the free world, especially now, on such difficult issues, when the security architecture due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has broken down,” Minister Rau told reporters after the meeting.

Mr Rau pointed out that Nancy Pelosi “praised Poland for its resolve in opposing the Russian aggression against Ukraine.” According to the minister, Mrs Pelosi stressed that this is the kind of position that inspires respect from the free world.

Russian society, energy crisis, negotiations

Poland’s FM said that during his discussion with the US House of Representatives about Russian mobilisation, they both acknowledged that the forced conscriptions could be a turning point for Russian society and Russian politics.

The talks also concerned Poland’s energy security as well as the possible energy crisis that Western Europe may face during winter and how this can lead some EU leaders to pressure Ukraine to start negotiations with Russia.

According to the FM, both officials recognised that it was difficult to imagine any Western leader sitting down at such a negotiating table and playing the role of the arbiter. He stressed that there is no doubt that it is up to Ukraine to decide on possible negotiations with Russia.

Annexation

Referring to Russia’s planned annexation of occupied Ukrainian territories, the Foreign Ministry head assured that this would be met with a response from the West in the form of another series of sanctions.

Thursday was the last day of Minister Rau’s 10-day visit to the US, first in New York during the 77th session of the UN General Assembly and later in Washington. In addition to meeting Nancy Pelosi in the US capital, Zbigniew Rau held talks with a number of congressmen and senators involved in US-Poland relations, as well as the heads of major think tanks. He also gave an in-depth interview to the NBC News television network.