Paweł Soloch, who heads the Polish president's National Security Bureau (BBN), made the statement after he and his counterparts from fellow Bucharest Nine (B9) countries spoke on Thursday with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
The meeting followed US President Joe Biden’s teleconference with B9 leaders last week and “clarified the US position with respect to Washington’s talks with Moscow,” Soloch told the Polish state news agency.
According to Soloch, Sullivan offered assurances that NATO would present a unified stance towards Russia.
Washington also "regards as unacceptable Moscow’s demands, such as that its NATO neighbours must not have offensive weapons,” Soloch said, adding that talks are possible "to avert conflict and war," but only if Russia de-escalates tensions around Ukraine.
Soloch also said that "in view of Russia’s military buildup" along the Ukrainian border, B9 officials emphasised that NATO’s entire eastern flank, “from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea,” needs to be strengthened.
“In my view, the Americans recognise this,” Soloch was quoted as saying.
“We also received assurances from Sullivan that if Russia attacks Ukraine, the United States will be ready to swiftly boost its military presence on NATO’s eastern flank,” he told the PAP news agency.
Summarising the meeting with Sullivan, Soloch said: “When it comes to decisions regarding NATO’s relations with Ukraine, we will be making them among allies and they will not be subject to negotiations with Russia.”
The Bucharest Nine is a Polish-Romanian initiative launched in 2015 that aims to help exchange views and coordinate positions on the security of NATO’s eastern-flank countries: Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, and Slovakia.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP