Marcin Przydacz, head of President Karol Nawrocki's International Policy Bureau, was speaking on Monday at the Warsaw Security Forum, which opened with Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He took part in a panel on "NATO 3.0" – a concept that would see European allies take on more responsibility for the continent’s defence.
Przydacz said Poland was keeping the eastern flank stable "not only for ourselves" but for the whole of Europe.
He argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to reshape the global security architecture, and that Warsaw’s stance helps preserve it.
Some countries were trying to catch up on spending, he told the conference, but "it simply takes too long."
Western European allies, he added, "are wealthy enough to spend a bit more on their own security."
Poland plans to allocate about 5 percent of its GDP on defence and has long met NATO’s target of at least 2 percent.
He also stressed that the US military presence in Europe must be maintained, and said the most important step the continent could take towards Russia was to keep sanctions in place.
Separately, in an interview with private broadcaster Polsat News, Przydacz raised doubts about an agreement announced on Friday by US President Donald Trump, who said he had struck a deal with Putin on diesel supplies.
The US Treasury issued a licence exempting Russian diesel loaded onto tankers by Friday from American sanctions until April 2027.
Przydacz called the move "above all an attempt to react to what is happening on energy markets in the US" and said he did not expect it to work.
In his view, the volume involved would have little broad economic effect, and Congress had a major role to play.
Przydacz explained that he and president Nawrocki favoured tough sanctions rather than dismantling them.
"Only a Russia pressured by economic measures would negotiate in good faith," he said, adding that he saw no sign of such readiness in Moscow.
According to Przydacz, "Putin believes he is winning and is waiting for the West to tire of supporting Ukraine."
On Sunday, a bipartisan group of US senators said allowing Russian diesel into the US directly contradicts a 2022 law banning energy imports from Russia.
They said Washington should not give Putin a "financial lifeline" while Moscow continues to kill Ukrainian civilians.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent maintains he acted lawfully.
(ał)
Source: PAP