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Polish president, gov't to discuss Ukraine crisis

15.02.2022 07:30
Polish government ministers are set to gather for a special meeting with President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday to discuss the West's standoff with Moscow over a military buildup amid warnings of an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Polish Presidential Palace in Warsaw.
The Polish Presidential Palace in Warsaw.Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

The meeting, known as a Cabinet Council, is due to begin at the presidential palace in Warsaw at 1 p.m., public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

Presidential aide Grażyna Ignaczak-Bandych told Polish Radio that the meeting would be held behind closed doors and focus on "the situation in Ukraine in the broad sense."

Duda is expected to hold a media briefing after the gathering, Ignaczak-Bandych said.

The Polish head of state on Friday took part in an online meeting with US President Joe Biden and the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Romania as well as the heads of NATO and the European Union to discuss security concerns in Eastern Europe.

Duda said after the meeting that the West stood united and in solidarity with Ukraine amid a looming threat of Russian aggression.

Russia has been massing troops and military hardware around Ukraine for weeks, fueling concerns among Western leaders that an invasion could be imminent. 

Moscow has denied any such plans, but has demanded security guarantees from the United States and NATO. These include a ban on the alliance’s eastern expansion and a withdrawal of infrastructure from NATO’s eastern flank, news agencies have reported.

In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and then fomented a separatist conflict in that country's eastern Donbas region, leading to a wave of EU and US sanctions against Moscow and Russian officials.

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Source: IAR, PAP