Waszczykowski: Trump well prepared for talks with Putin after Warsaw visit

In his interview for PAP, the Foreign Minister commented on the Warsaw visit of President Trump, who first talked with President Andrzej Duda and then delivered a speech in the Krasinski Square on Thursday.

According to Waszczykowski, the talks held by the two delegations with the participation of Presidents Duda and Trump were ‘substantial’ and focused on collaboration in the field of the armaments industry and purchases of arms equipment. As he said, ‘intentions concerning some of these purchases have been confirmed’. ‘We have plans for further purchases and we have very interesting proposals from the American partners’, he announced.

In the opinion of the head of Polish diplomacy, talks in Warsaw created a political climate for signing a contract for US supplies of liquefied natural gas to Poland. ‘We have everything in front of us. For the time being we have created a good climate and a good political atmosphere. Now we have to sit down at a table with a different business team’, he said.

He suggested that ‘a gas deal might be an element of a greater package’. ‘We are talking about a possibility of buying American armaments and of the USA becoming involved in infrastructure-, road-, railway-related and other projects; and companies may operate here. Maybe a wider package will be worked out, which will include a gas deal’, Waszczykowski said.

Thanks to the purchase of gas, we would ‘at last obtain gas from a reliable source’, the minister continued. ‘After all, President Trump admitted publicly that Poland would not have to be held hostage to political environment’, he stressed. ‘So we are waiting for a commercial offer’, he added.

In the Foreign Minister’s view, President Trump’s speech in the Krasinski Square had been surrounded by a great deal of unnecessary ‘speculations, curiosity, confusion and suspicion that he might bring about European disunity’.

Evaluating the speech of Trump, who devoted much time to the Warsaw Uprising, the minister emphasized that ‘it was with great admiration that he listened to extensive knowledge about the Polish history’. According to Waszczykowski, a historical element was embraced firmly and adequately. ‘Indeed, we have sought for years such interpretation of the history’, he stressed.

‘I assume that clearly someone assisted the President in formulating his speech, but the President learnt a lot in the course of its preparation and, importantly, he presented the right interpretation of the Polish history to Poles, but also to the world, because this speech was followed by people around the world, who were eager to know what the American President has to say during his bilateral trip to Europe’, Waszczykowski explained.

‘Finally, skeptics and doubters lived to see a mention of Article 5, i.e. obligations towards NATO, towards allies’, he said.

The Minister was asked about Trump’s statement during Thursday’s joint press conference with President Duda in Warsaw. The American leader said that nobody talked about ‘guarantees’ related to the presence of American troops in Poland. ‘It seems to me that there was a misunderstanding because the journalist who asked the question probably meant whether or not we had discussed the presence of the troops but he used the word ‘guarantees’. In diplomatic language, guarantees mean treaty guarantees. We are not negotiating treaty guarantees, since we have such guarantees - they result from the North Atlantic Treaty’, Waszczykowski clarified.

In his view, the President replied to the journalist precisely that there was no reference to treaty guarantees, however there was a reference to the military presence. ‘At this point, of course, commitments were made that the troops will remain present for as long as danger exists, and these commitments were later repeated in the public speech’, the Foreign Minister pointed out.

According to him, ‘indicating without political correctness what our current problems are’ was a very important part of Trump’s speech. ‘The absence of the will and spirit to defend the Western civilization and our values. It was a message to the world outside Poland’, Waszczykowski continued.

He believes President Trump’s speech at the Krasinski Square presented a ‘natural perspective’ of relations with Russia. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs said, the American leader speaking in Warsaw ‘urged to defend our borders and values’ while ‘giving Russia an offer of dialogue’.

Waszczykowski emphasized that, in fact, each previous American head of state had attempted to establish cooperation with Moscow. ‘During last year’s NATO Warsaw summit we, too, made a decision about defense and deterrence, but also about the need for dialogue with Russia’, said the head of Polish diplomacy.

‘We are defending ourselves and want to protect ourselves but we are extending our hand to Russia, we want dialogue; we want to use dialogue to resolve matters that stand between us. It is a natural perspective and we expected that. After all, nobody wants to wage war with Russia, in particular a country such as Poland, which lies close to Russia, close to raw material markets and close to the great market, in which we could sell our products’, he underlined.

According to the Foreign Minister, ‘still there is no comprehensive American policy with respect to Ukraine and this conflict’. ‘There are, however, certain steps on a path to involvement’, the Minister assessed. He reminded that a visit to Washington was recently paid by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who talked with Trump about the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

As Waszczykowski stated, Trump received information also during his visit to Warsaw. ‘He also obtained information from us. We presented our view on Russian politics. Additionally, he was given information at a wider meeting with the leaders of 12 Three Seas Initiative countries. Representatives from the Baltic States and other countries acquainted him with threats that are posed by Russia. He received a huge portion of information and facts about Russia, so I assume that he is prepared well for a talk with Putin’, he said.

Źródło: PAP/tłumaczenie intertext.com.pl