The accolade was collected by the Chair of NATO’s Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer of the Netherlands, in Warsaw on Tuesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The ceremony took place during the Warsaw Security Forum, an annual conference to debate security in Central Europe as well as international policy issues and transatlantic relations.
Zbigniew Pisarski, a board member at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation, described NATO as “the most successful military alliance in world history that nobody has dared to attack.”
Jacek Siewiera, head of Polish President Andrzej Duda’s National Security Bureau (BBN), said that NATO comprised 31 member countries and that its decisions required unanimity, “yet it’s capable of swift action, as shown by the alliance’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
He added that “NATO’s main mission at present is to create the conditions for Ukraine’s accession” to the pact.
Siewiera said that thanks to joining NATO, Poland is secure “for the first time in generations.”
Receiving the 2023 Knight of Freedom award on behalf of NATO, Admiral Bauer said: “Together, we are protecting much more than physical safety. We are protecting freedom, democracy and the sovereign rights of nations and people to determine their own destiny. NATO thanks you for the recognition of its work. And we will do our utmost to live up to the trust you have placed in us.”
Established in 2005, the Knight of Freedom award is an internationally recognised award conferred annually to "outstanding figures who promote the values represented by General Casimir Pulaski: freedom, justice, and democracy," according to officials.
Past recipients include Olena Zelenska, Alexei Navalny, Dalia Grybauskaitė, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and Mary Robinson.
Gen. Kazimierz Pułaski/Casimir Pulaski, a Polish and American independence hero, was killed while leading US forces in the 1779 Battle of Savannah during the American War of Independence.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Tuesday was day 587 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, pulaski.pl, NATO