Poland provides security guarantees to Lithuania amid Russia tensions

KORZENIEWO, Poland — Poland’s president says the government stands ready to defend Lithuanian territory in the eventuality of an attack, following comments made by Lithuania’s prime minister implying Polish laws may prevent it from protecting the Baltic state.

The presidents of Poland and Lithuania made a surprise appearance here on the last day of a waterway crossing at the Vistula River, which took place as part of the Polish-led Dragon exercise . Both countries’ soldiers were involved in the training.

“Today, I am talking about collective defense. We are ready, and rest assured that Lithuania can count on us if there was such a need, [that] Polish troops would stand shoulder to shoulder with Lithuanian forces to defend every inch of territory against an enemy attack,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told his Lithuanian counterpart during a news conference. “And that means not only Polish territory but also Lithuanian and the territory of the other Baltic states, if necessary.”

Duda’s reassurances were made amid a broader debate that erupted in Lithuania in recent days, following a cryptic statement made by Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte. In an interview with a local television program, the prime minister said she had knowledge of existing legal restrictions in Poland that “do not provide for the obligation” to deploy troops abroad even during a war, which would also apply if Lithuania came under attack.

She did not clarify which specific legal acts or limitations this was in reference to.

According to the state-run media organization LRT, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda called Šimonyte’s words a “misunderstanding.”

“Lithuania and Poland share the same understanding of security threats, and we will continue to work together to strengthen the security of our countries and the entire NATO eastern flank,” Nauseda told reporters during the March 5 news conference here.

During the Vilnius Security Forum held Feb. 23, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe, reminded attendees that NATO’s Article 5 says an attack on a member state is considered an attack on the alliance, but that each allied country should also be ready to defend itself.

Several European nations are concerned that Russia’s ambitions will spread beyond Ukraine, upon which Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Among the organizations that took part in the Polish leg of the exercise was NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, whose lead is being assumed by the U.K. this year.

In an interview with Defense News, Brig. Gen. Guy Foden, commander of the force, said very high readiness entails that troops are “ready to deploy within [a matter] of days, but depending on where you’re going it can take shorter or longer periods of time.”

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

波兰科热涅沃——波兰总统表示，如果立陶宛领土遭到攻击，波兰政府已做好准备保卫立陶宛。此前，立陶宛总理发表言论，暗示波兰法律可能阻止其保护这个波罗的海国家。

波兰和立陶宛总统在维斯瓦河水路穿越演习的最后一天意外现身，此次演习是波兰主导的“龙”联合军事演习的一部分。两国士兵均参与了此次训练。

“今天，我谈的是集体防御。我们已经做好准备，请放心，如果需要，立陶宛可以依靠我们，波兰军队将与立陶宛军队并肩作战，保卫每一寸领土免受敌人攻击，”波兰总统安杰伊·杜达在新闻发布会上对立陶宛总统说。“这不仅意味着波兰领土，也意味着立陶宛领土以及其他波罗的海国家的领土，如有必要。”

杜达的保证是在立陶宛近日爆发的一场更广泛的辩论中作出的，这场辩论源于立陶宛总理英格丽达·西蒙尼特的一份含义不明的声明。西蒙尼特总理在接受当地电视台采访时表示，她了解波兰现行的法律限制，这些限制“并未规定”波兰有义务在国外部署军队，即使在战争时期也是如此，如果立陶宛遭到攻击，这一限制同样适用。

她没有具体说明指的是哪些法律条文或限制。

据立陶宛国家媒体 LRT 报道，立陶宛总统吉塔纳斯·瑙塞达称 Šimonyte 的言论是“误会”。

“立陶宛和波兰对安全威胁有着相同的认识，我们将继续共同努力，加强我们两国以及整个北约东翼的安全，”瑙塞达在3月5日于此举行的新闻发布会上对记者说。

在 2 月 23 日举行的维尔纽斯安全论坛上，美国陆军欧洲司令部前司令本·霍奇斯中将提醒与会者，北约第五条规定，对成员国的攻击将被视为对联盟的攻击，但每个盟国也应该做好自卫的准备。

一些欧洲国家担心俄罗斯的野心会蔓延到乌克兰以外的地方，莫斯科于 2022 年 2 月对乌克兰发动了全面入侵。

参加波兰境内演习的组织包括北约高度戒备联合特遣部队，该部队今年由英国领导。

部队指挥官盖伊·福登准将在接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，高度战备意味着部队“能够在几天内做好部署准备，但根据部署地点的不同，所需时间可能会更短或更长”。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。