Poland’s defense minister has said that if the Baltic countries were attacked, Poland would “without hesitation” be the first nation to come to their aid. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who is also a Polish deputy prime minister, suggested that failure to help Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia could mean that Poland is attacked next, and would result in Warsaw itself having to invoke NATO’s Article 5, which provides for mutual assistance in the event of an alliance member being attacked. “I, if I were defense minister at the time, would direct a request to the government, to the president, for Poland to be the first to step in with assistance, with the invocation of Article Five, with all the consequences for the Republic of Poland and for Polish society,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said. “Because if we don't do it, we'll lose that space,” he continued. “And if we lose that space, in a moment we'll be the ones begging for help...” The defense minister’s comments, made on Thursday during the 35th Economic Forum in the southern town of Karpacz, come as Poland and its allies raise the alarm about increasing ‘hybrid war’ activities attributed to Moscow, including sabotage attacks. Some international observers and analysts have also drawn attention to a rising threat of open conflict with Russia, with the Baltic states a likely first target. Poland first? While the defense minister voiced unequivocal support for acting on behalf of Poland’s NATO allies, his predecessor in the role, Mariusz Błaszczak, drew criticism for questioning the prudence of such a move. “Polish soldiers should defend Poland,” Błaszczak, from the right-wing Law and Justice party that previously ruled Poland, said in an interview with private broadcaster Radio Zet on Tuesday. “We have to be strong in alliances... to prioritize cooperation with the United States,” he added. Reminded by the interviewer that Article 5—often dubbed the ‘all for one and one for all’ clause—is a fundamental and binding element of NATO membership, Błaszczak responded: “We directly border Russia, which has effectively occupied Belarus, so we too are on the front line. “That article [5] of course stands for solidarity, but the point is that the government that runs Poland should maintain the best possible relations with the United States.” Błaszczak was accused by the Polish interior minister, Marcin Kierwiński, of “undermining NATO’s raison d'être, while Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk accused him of “undermining the sanctity of Polish security.” In an X post, Tomczyk described Błaszczak as “a fool, and an infinite one at that.” More than three fourths of Poles (77.8%) believe their country should come to the aid of the Baltic states if attacked by Russia, with only 16.1% holding the opposite view, according to an IBRIS poll conducted for Radio Zet. In reaction to the poll results, former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis posted on X in Polish, saying: “Thank you very much!”
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said if Poland did not help its neighbors, it could soon need help itself. Photo by PAP/Jarek Praszkiewicz
