On June 12, Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Blaszczak attended a meeting of the defense ministers of the Visegrad Group countries in Štrbské Pleso (Slovakia). The meeting of the heads of defense ministries of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary marks the conclusion of the Slovakian chairmanship of the V4, during which the V4 Group's activities over the past year were summarized.

The main topic of the V4 defense ministers' talks was the changes in the European security environment brought by Russia's aggression against Ukraine, and NATO and EU actions in response. The ministers discussed further involvement in helping Ukraine. They also assessed the implementation of the provisions of the Madrid NATO summit on deterrence and defense, and discussed positions for the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius.

"We talked about the NATO summit, about cooperation between our countries, about what we want to achieve together during the sessions in Vilnius. First of all, we will have to strengthen NATO's eastern flank. Hence, our activities are coordinated for this purpose. We also talked about strengthening our arms industry capabilities. We cooperate with each other when it comes to munitions production, but we are also open to our partners' interest in Polish weapons. By this I mean, for instance, the Pioruns, i.e. anti-aircraft missiles of Polish production, which have proven so successful in the hands of Ukrainians."

- Deputy Prime Minister M. Blaszczak noted after the meeting.

Speaking of military modernization, the head of the Polish defense ministry declared that Poland is ready to share its experience in this area.

"We are already in possession of new-generation equipment. I, for my part, have declared openness to cooperation when it comes to implementing modern Western equipment that replaces post-Soviet equipment. We are also committed to developing our joint ventures within the European Union. Here I particularly emphasize the importance of the "military mobility" project, first of all from the point of view of defense, but also the strengthening of relations between our countries, including economic ones."

- Minister M. Blaszczak said.

After the working session, the defense ministers signed a political declaration on the continuation of the protection of Slovakia's airspace as part of the Air Policing mission.

"The proof of our close cooperation is the combat duty of the V4 Group countries, which will last until the end of June this year. This is the next, third edition. In the future, we are, certainly, advocating that further editions of such a duty [as part of the Air Policing mission] take place."

- Deputy Prime Minister noted after the talks.

When asked about support for Ukraine, which is defending itself against Russian aggression, Deputy Prime Minister M. Blaszczak stressed that support for the country should continue.

"We understand Ukrainians who do not want to be under Russian occupation, they reject the Russian mir. They want to be independent, that's why they accept support. Also, we respect the choice of Ukrainians to associate themselves with the institutions of the free world, with the institutions of Western Europe. We also oppose the restoration of the Russian empire. Russia has always committed war crimes. The Novaya Kakhovka blow-up also bears the hallmarks of a war crime, due to the fact that it poses real threats to civilians in the flooded areas. That's why we support Ukraine, that's why we are trying to help it. The counteroffensive obviously has a chance of success. In our view, support for Ukraine should be sustained until this war is successfully concluded. The success will be that Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders will be an independent state, not dominated by Russia,"

- he said.

 

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The Visegrad Group (V4) is one of the main cooperation formats of Central European countries, whose members are Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The date of V4's establishment is considered to be February 15, 1991.The original purpose of the Group was to support each other on the road to the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance. Currently, cooperation is taking place on many levels. Slovakia holds the presidency of the Group until June 30 this year, and the Czech Republic will assume the presidency from July 1.