Kwasniewski stresses importance of Baltic States' NATO membership
During talks yesterday with NATO Supreme Allied Commander for Europe,
General Joseph W. Ralstone, President Aleksander Kwasniewski stressed the
key importance of the Baltic States' NATO membership for the security of
Europe and Poland. Speaking during a visit to NATO headquarters in Mons near
Brussels, Kwasniewski admitted that if forced to choose either NATO
expansion to include the Baltic States in the face of Russian disapproval,
or construction of the National Missile Defense (NMD) system with Moscow's
consent, Poland would favor the former option. He also assured NATO of
Poland's readiness to begin talks on the dispatch of between 2,000 and 4,000
troops for NATO operations in Macedonia. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 10,
Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A8) M.T.K.
