Poland's defence minister: Polish troops will 'definitely' join if Russia attacks the Baltics
Poland's deputy prime minister and defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that if Russia attacked a Baltic state, Poland should push for NATO's Article 5 and join in the ally's defence. His remarks came in response to comments by former defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak.
Speaking at the Economic Forum in Karpacz, Poland's deputy prime minister and defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz set out a clear position on how Poland would act if Russia attacked one of the Baltic states. He noted that such a scenario is being discussed increasingly often in public debate, and said Poland's response needs to be unambiguous.
The minister said that if he were still defence minister at the moment of an attack, he would call on the government and the president to immediately go to the aid of the Baltic states and to push for the activation of Article 5 of the NATO treaty. He stressed that refusing to help would also endanger Poland itself — if the alliance failed to defend its eastern member states, Poland could later find itself without allied support when it needed it.
Response to Błaszczak's remarks
Kosiniak-Kamysz's statement was a reaction to comments by former defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak, who said in an interview with Radio ZET that in the event of a Russian attack on the Baltic states, Polish troops should first defend Poland itself, citing the country's border with Russia and Belarus's close ties to Moscow. Kosiniak-Kamysz criticised this stance, recalling that Polish soldiers already serve in Latvia as part of the Canadian-led NATO multinational battlegroup, and that Warsaw cannot expect allied help itself if it casts doubt on its own readiness to defend its neighbours.
The minister also referred to remarks by a representative of Portugal's Ministry of Defence, Ricardo Pinheiro Alves, who, despite his country's distance from Russia, affirmed readiness to fulfil NATO's Article 5 obligations. Kosiniak-Kamysz said Polish troops would definitely take part if another allied country were attacked, though the specific military tasks in such a case would be determined by NATO's joint forces commander.
He added that allies should help each other even when Article 5 is not formally invoked, citing Poland's use of NATO's Article 4 — which provides for consultations among member states — in September 2025 after drones entered its airspace.
