Poland and the Czech Republic are strengthening military cooperation
18.08.2022
“Poland and the Czech Republic are neighbours who cooperate with each other. This is particularly important when it comes to the challenges we face, and in fact the whole of Europe is facing. These challenges concern Russian aggression against Ukraine. These challenges relate to Putin's attempts to rebuild the Russian Empire. Both Poland and the Czech Republic are opposed to these tendencies. We have identical historical experiences. After World War II, both our countries were dominated by Moscow. We do not want to return to this situation and therefore we support Ukraine, but we also strengthen our own armed forces” - said Deputy Prime Minister, Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak after a meeting with Jana Černochova, head of the Czech defence ministry.
On Thursday, August the 18th, a delegation from the Czech Ministry of National Defence paid a visit to Warsaw.
Deputy Prime Minister M. Błaszczak emphasized that the talks also concerned cooperation and building interoperability between our armed forces.
“In Latvia, too, our armed forces cooperate together, where Poles and Czechs are part of the eFP. We are involved in NATO, but we are also discussing cooperation in the European Union forum, concerning, for example, the supply of fuel for the army. This is an initiative discussed earlier in NATO, but I think it can be used within the framework of the European Union. The Czech Republic is holding the presidency, so I believe that such an initiative has a good chance of success. Additionally, this initiative makes us independent from Russian blackmail. We have troubles related to the fact that Putin treats supplies of energy resources as a weapon, so such a weapon should be removed from his hand"
- he stressed.
The heads of the defence ministries discussed cooperation within the framework of international formats: the North Atlantic Alliance, the European Union and the Visegrad Group. The subject of the meeting was also the strengthening of bilateral military cooperation and defence industries.
“Thank you for the openness and joint exercises of our soldiers. For cooperation also when it comes to the defence industry. I can say that Poland is modernizing its equipment, and so is the Czech Republic. We have joint ventures prepared. For example, a tank destroyer will be a consortium with the chassis of the Czech company TATRA. It is also the cooperation of our countries within the European Union"
- said the head of the Ministry of National Defence.
Referring to the future cooperation, Minister Černochova noted that during the visit of the Polish and Czech defence chiefs to Slovakia scheduled for next week, an agreement on joint patrolling of the Slovak airspace will be signed.
“We also talked about joint exercises, not only in terms of special units, but also airborne units and military police. We are also members of the Visegrad Group, and next week we will meet the Slovak Minister of Defence and sign an agreement on jointly controlling the skies over Slovakia"
- added Minister J. Černochova.
During the talks, the ministers also raised issues related to the implementation of the Strategic Compass, as well as the security situation in the region, with particular emphasis on support for Ukraine, which is defending itself against Russian aggression.
To Deputy Prime Minister Błaszczak, the Czech Minister of Defence also thanked him for organizing the transport of military aid for Ukraine.
