US President Joe Biden is hosting Poland’s president and prime minister for White House talks as the leaders look to press Washington to break its impasse over replenishing funds for Ukraine.
Ahead of the visit, Polish President Andrzej Duda called on other members of the Nato alliance to raise their spending on defence to 3% of their GDP as Russia puts its own economy on a war footing and pushes forward with its plans to conquer Ukraine.
Poland already spends 4% of its own economic output on defence, double the current target of 2% in Nato.
“The war in Ukraine has clearly shown that the United States is and should remain the leader in security issues in Europe and the world,” Mr Duda said in an address to Poland on Monday.
“However, other Nato countries must also take greater responsibility for the security of the entire alliance and intensively modernise and strengthen their troops.”
In a Washington Post opinion piece to spotlight his call for greater Nato spending, Mr Duda argued that Russia was switching its economy to “war mode,” allocating close to 30% of its annual budget to arm itself.
“This figure and other data coming out of Russia are alarming,” Mr Duda wrote. “Vladimir Putin’s regime poses the biggest threat to global peace since the end of the Cold War.”
Mr Biden invited Mr Duda and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for meetings to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to Nato, a historic step Poland took into the West after breaking free from Moscow’s sphere of influence after decades of communist rule.
The visit also comes amid a standoff in Washington between Mr Biden, a Democrat, and House Republicans on Ukraine funding.
House Republicans have blocked a 118 billion dollar bipartisan package that includes 60 billion dollars in Ukraine funding, as well as funds for Israel, Taiwan and US border security.
Speaking to reporters before boarding his plane in Warsaw, Mr Duda said while the talks in Washington would celebrate an anniversary, they would above all focus on European security going forward and “about Russian imperial policy, which has returned”.
The visit also gives Biden another opportunity to showcase how his view of Nato, a 32-member transatlantic military alliance, contrasts with that of the likely 2024 Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.
Trump has said that when he was president, he warned Nato allies that he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to countries that are “delinquent” in meeting the alliance’s defence spending target.
It is the first time in a quarter-century for a Polish president and prime minister to be in Washington at the same time and the first for both leaders to be welcomed at the White House at the same time, according to Polish media.
The gesture is widely seen as an acknowledgment of the seriousness of this historical moment, with Russian strength growing as that of Ukraine wanes.
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