UK defense secretary Wes Streeting was in Warsaw yesterday where he was egging on the Poles in their Russophobia. He claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing NATO’s resolve” as he condemned alleged hybrid threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” from Russia, reported The Guardian. Streeting repeated his recent warnings that “we have to be ready for a scenario in which the United Kingdom and the Nato alliance finds itself at war with Russia.” He invoked the mantra that NATO is a “defensive” alliance “but when Putin gives assurances that he has no intentions to provoke a war with NATO, we are reminded of what he said about Ukraine only days before the invasion.”
Speaking alongside Poland’s defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Streeting declared that NATO is ready “to defend every inch of NATO territory” and will continue its support for Ukraine.
Streeting was in Warsaw to celebrate the Warsaw Defence Plan, under which “the two nations will work together across sea, land, air, cyber and industry to strengthen security and deterrence across Europe’s Eastern Flank,” according to a statement issued by the UK Ministry of Defense. “The agreement sets out the first phase of defence cooperation under the new UK-Poland Security and Defence Partnership Treaty and demonstrates the UK stepping up on European security to build a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO.” The treaty, first unveiled by the Starmer government on May 26, “ establishes a framework for cooperation between the UK and Poland across a wide range of policy areas relevant to defence and security, including foreign policy and defence cooperation, economic resilience, energy and climate security, and a number of other issues,” reports a House of Lords summary.
The defense plan “will strengthen joint work on defence between the UK and Poland across a number of key areas,” including air defense, drone warfare, and “Increasing defensive maritime activity in the Baltic Sea through exercises and regional coordination, helping British and Polish forces protect vital lines of communication in the sea,” among other things.