Polish, Latvian leaders discuss security, defense issues

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) – Polish President Andrzej Duda and his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkevics met in Warsaw on Wednesday to discuss security and defense issues related to the conflict in Ukraine and bilateral economic ties.

To the Latvian president’s request for military support, the Polish president said: “Poland will provide military support to Latvia if there is any need.”

“The most important problem is security, both in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine and the hybrid threat from Belarus – we are talking here about attacks on our borders,” Duda told reporters after the meeting.

Duda and Rinkevicz also discussed strengthening their borders by sending additional troops to the borders.

“As everyone knows, our military contingent is present in Latvia as part of NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence, established at the Warsaw Summit in 2016. Since then, Polish soldiers have been in Latvia,” he said.

After the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's mutiny attempt in June, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have coordinated to secure border crossings with Russia and Belarus.

In May, the US deployed F-22 fighter jets, supporting the NATO Allied Air Command’s mission along its eastern flank, while Germany plans to send around 4,000 additional troops to Lithuania to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.