Washington, DC: Ambassador Wilczek Testifies on Russia Before US Senate

“The Kremlin’s chief strategic objective is to restore it’s superpower status lost after the fall of communism. To achieve this goal it seeks to alter Europe's security architecture, impeding the integration of post-soviet countries with the Euro-Atlantic community.” This was the message Ambassador Piotr Wilczek delivered to members of the United States Senate during a hearing held to explore Russian Policies and Intentions Toward Specific European Countries.

 The Senate hearing explored Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and continued occupation of parts of Ukraine and Georgia, as well as Russia’s militarization of Kaliningrad and threatening actions in the cyber, informational and energy domains.  

In his remarks Ambassador Wilczek thanked the Senators for their continued support of Poland and our region. A clear symbol of this support are the recent deployments of US military personnel to Central Europe both under NATO’s Enchanced Forward Posture (eFP) as well as the bilateral US deployments under Operation Atlantic Resolve. The Ambassador stressed that this partnership should continue and that the eFP deployments should take on a long-term character.  

Beyond just military support, Ambassador Wilczek pointed out that Poland’s newly opened LNG import terminal could serve as a gateway for US-made LNG destined for clients in Central Europe which would help the region with energy diversification. 

Ambassador Wilczek was one of six panelists invited by Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to address the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. The other speakers included Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Georgian Ambassador David Bakradze, Latvian Ambassador Andris Teikmanis, Lithuanian Ambassador Rolandas Krisciunas and Estonian Ambassador Eerik Marmei.

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
in Washington D.C.