(14 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Warsaw – 14 February 2025
1. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz walk to podiums
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense:
"Well, thank you. Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, thank you for your incredibly strong words, which I echo and concur completely. Our friendship, our bond is ironclad and we came here specifically to reinforce that. I also want to thank your wife for being a part of this as well today and your entire delegation. The warmth of the Polish people is very, very clear. It is a privilege to be here. And I do want to emphasize that it’s quite intentional that our first European bilateral is right here in Poland. The symbolism is not lost. In fact, it is intentional. We see Poland as the model ally on the continent willing to invest not just in their defense, but in our shared defense and the defense of the continent. Our relationship is strong and growing stronger every day. Poland, a strategic frontline partner on NATO’s eastern flank. Poland, a staunch US ally."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
U.S. Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth praised the relationship between the United States and Poland during a news briefing with Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz in Warsaw on Friday.
"I do want to emphasize that it’s quite intentional that our first European bilateral is right here in Poland. The symbolism is not lost. In fact, it is intentional," Hegseth said, adding "We see Poland as the model ally on the continent willing to invest not just in their defense, but in our shared defense and the defense of the continent."
While Hegseth was in Poland on Friday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance was at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
The future of Ukraine is the top item on the agenda in Munich following a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week, when they pledged to work together to end the 3-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Vance started his day in Munich with a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, during which he reiterated the administration’s call for NATO members to spend more on defense. Currently, 23 of NATO’s 32 member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s target of spending 2% of the nation’s GDP on defense.
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