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Interview: Tomasz Szatkowski, Poland’s deputy minister of national defense

Defense News: WASHINGTON — Following Russia's incursion into Ukranian territory in 2014, the easternmost countries in NATO began to increase their focus on defense requirements. Poland, in particular, has been very vocal about plans to increase defense spending while modernizing its military equipment. Tomasz Szatkowski serves as Poland’s deputy minister of national defense. He sat down with Defense News for an exclusive interview during a June 23 visit to Washington to discuss Russia, plans for joint procurement and his country's new defense strategy.

You recently released a new defense review, laying out broad priorities for Poland. Walk us through what that looks like.

The defense review is very important because it is affected by changes in the security environment around Poland. Namely, the threat coming from the east and its nature, the classic military threat and full spectrum threat. We cannot ignore classic military threat as well, and that plays very much into what we are talking about in the defense concept. We are very much focused on the article 5 of the Washington treaty, meaning we very much rely on allies and we are very positive about the allied presence in Poland and the eastern flank. At the same time, this doesn’t remove the publication on our side to build up our capabilities, and that’s what this concept is about.

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