February 1, Vice Minister of National Defence Margiris Abukevičius met with Deputy Minister of National Defence of Poland Marcin Ociepa who is visiting Lithuania. The officials discussed bilateral cooperation and opportunities to further increase assistance to Ukraine as it is facing the Russian aggression. The Lithuanian and Polish counterparts agreed it was necessary to continue assisting Ukraine with deepening its ties with NATO and reaching a compromise in the European Union to establish a military mission to Ukraine.
“Lithuania and Poland are in lockstep when it comes to responding to the current security threats in the region. The aggressive actions of Russia and Belarus suggest that the security situation might shift extremely swiftly and not in our favor at all. Therefore, our security and defence cooperation with the Poles is closer and more intense than ever before,” said M. Abukevičius after the meeting.
Vice Ministers also discussed the areas of security and defence that both countries saw as the most promising for tightened cooperation –air forces, navies, acquisitions, cybersecurity, military mobility. Lithuania also calls for more interoperability between the Polish and the Lithuanian Land Forces, therefore, opportunity for joint exercises of Lithuanian and Polish land units were discussed.
M. Abukevičius thanked Poland for its current leadership in the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states and both colleagues agreed that the key factor of strengthening security and deterrence is a persistent allied military presence in the region and close relations with the United States of America.
Photo credits: MoD/A.Pliadis
