Polish troops will defend Lithuania in case of attack - Duda

He said this in an interview with LRT.

Regarding whether Poland will defend Lithuania in case of an attack on its territory, Duda stated that both countries are NATO members, where there is a clear commitment under Article 5 of the NATO treaty regarding collective defense.

“I therefore say quite firmly that I find it difficult to imagine a situation in which, in the event of an attack on Lithuania, it would not receive assistance from NATO, including from Poland. I am talking about military assistance. In short, the Polish military would come to the defence of Lithuania. I cannot imagine any other way,” assured the Polish president.

He added that other situations of concern that would not lead to the activation of Article 5 should be resolved between the two governments and the two states.

“These questions have to be resolved bilaterally between our countries, our governments, because we can agree on mutual support. I repeat: we are talking about situations not yet at the military level, only at the threat level. These are two separate questions,” he explained.

• On April 4, it was reported that Polish President Andrzej Duda is seeking to push the idea of increasing defense spending by NATO member states from 2% to 3% of GDP.