Poland believes it can turn Trump against Russia - Politico

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Politico.

"The Polish government believes it has a secret weapon to shift Donald Trump against Russian leader Vladimir Putin," the report said.

When the U.S. Congress allocated a package of aid to Ukraine worth more than USD 60 billion, lawmakers from Poland's now-opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party were quick to claim that it was due to the influence of their president, Andrzej Duda, who had met with Trump in New York just a few days earlier. At the meeting, he discussed Ukraine's military needs with Trump and also met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson.

As noted, despite the fact that in Poland, where there are disagreements between the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and PiS, there is a "rare agreement" on the need to win Trump over.

Duda's meeting coincided with a change in the former US president's and the Republican Party's policy towards Ukraine. Trump, who had previously spoken positively of Putin and condemned Ukraine's political problems, posted a completely opposite statement on social media a day later:

"As everyone agrees, Ukrainian Survival and Strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! GET MOVING EUROPE!" - the article says.

Politico notes that Trump likes to be praised and respected in public. For example, PiS politicians always speak at meetings of American conservatives, and Duda was one of the few who did not congratulate Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 election. Also in 2018, the PiS administration considered naming a base in Poland "Fort Trump" to encourage the White House to deploy US troops there.

As Ukrinform reported, earlier Polish President Andrzej Duda said that NATO countries should increase defence spending from the mandatory 2% to 3% of GDP, and Poland should change its National Security Strategy in view of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Former US President Donald Trump said that the United States would "100 percent" remain in NATO under his leadership as long as European countries "play fair". He warned European countries against abusing US support and called for increased defence spending.

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