NATO members pledge support for Baltic Guard mission - Polish minister
Several NATO states, including Poland, have announced their participation in the Baltic Guard mission, which is to include the protection of undersea data cables, Polish Minister of Defence Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Thursday.
He made the announcement during a press conference following NATO Defence Ministers' meeting held in Brussels, aimed at preparing the bloc for its upcoming summit in The Hague scheduled for June.
Earlier this year, Warsaw proposed bolstering security measures in the Baltic Sea region in response to a series of undersea cable breaches that had occurred multiple times in recent months. These incidents prompted NATO to launch the Baltic Guard initiative to the secure of the area.
"This mission was initiated by the alliance's secretary general [Mark Rutte], but today we heard that not only the Baltic states, but also countries such as France and Belgium, will participate in safeguarding the critical undersea infrastructure," Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters.
He added that Thursday talks concerned the alliance's ability to react quickly.
"The good news is that a plan has been adopted to increase NATO's rapid-reaction capabilities," he told reporters. "In practice, it is an increase in the ability to protect the alliance's countries, especially of the eastern flank of NATO, especially Poland, by all allied forces," Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
All NATO countries had to agree to the adoption of the plan.(PAP)
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