The Spokesperson of the State Department Stated that the US has not Implemented Sanctions on Poland

QUESTION: Poland?

MS NAUERT: Hi, Dave.

QUESTION: Hi. The Polish press is reporting that Assistant Secretary Wess Mitchell has informed their government that they will have no meetings with the prime minister and the president of Poland until they have reformed their Holocaust law. Are you able to confirm this conversation took place? And if not, could you just generally characterize what the U.S. Government’s position is on Poland’s recent Holocaust law?

MS NAUERT: Certainly. We have very clearly – and we have one of our Polish friends in the back here. Marcin, great to see you as well, always. We have clearly articulated our concerns with that legislation. Statements from Secretary Tillerson, statements from me, information that we have put out from our European Bureau as well. We also had a video message that went out from our ambassador, Ambassador Jones, on this matter.

The reports that allege any kind of a suspension in security cooperation or high-level dialogue – all of that is simple false. NATO – excuse me – Poland is a close NATO ally. That will remain; that hasn’t changed. That does not mean that we don’t have disagreements about the legislation that has taken effect. We have made our position on that very well known. We believe that being able to have full and honest conversations – we believe in being able to have the media report in a free manner, even in a way that countries may not agree with. That is important. That is how people learn from things of the past. And so we would encourage the government to listen carefully to our positions that we have clearly stated.

QUESTION: But on the specific issue of can the president of Poland meet the President of the United States before this is --

MS NAUERT: I’m not aware of any meetings that are being discussed or scheduled at that time. But I can tell you there has been --

QUESTION: Imagine they’ll both be at the NATO Summit.

MS NAUERT: There has been – the NATO Summit in July? Yeah. Oh, nothing’s been announced on the NATO Summit in July. A lot of things can happen, certainly, between now and then. But we are not going to abandon our security commitment to Poland. Poland is a close NATO ally. But I want to be clear that we have concerns about that legislation and we have made our concerns very clear.

Marcin, go ahead.

QUESTION: Heather, so I understand, that the conversations are ongoing between Warsaw and Washington?

MS NAUERT: As far as I know, yeah, certainly, that our ambassador has been deeply engaged in this. I just spent quite a bit of time with our Assistant Secretary Wess Mitchell yesterday. We did not talk about the Poland matter. We were talking about our friends from Latvia and Estonia and Lithuania as well. But I can certainly go back and ask. If I have anything new, I’d be happy to bring it to you. Okay.

QUESTION: Is there a – is it possible that there were just suggestions from the U.S. side, from the State Department, that there may be a problem with such high diplomatic meetings?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to speculate, but I’ll just tell you we’ve made our concerns clear. But our security posture, as it pertains to our ally, Poland, is not changing. People are trying to find distance or space between our longstanding relationship, and there is no space there, okay?

QUESTION: So the foreign minister of Poland is welcome at the State Department?

MS NAUERT: I have no meetings or no plans that I can – I am able to announce at this time from this position, okay? Okay.

QUESTION: Sorry. You just said there is no distance or no space --

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- but there is.

MS NAUERT: Well, on this matter. On the matter, and we’ve made our disagreements or our disappointment with that legislation clear.

QUESTION: All right. When you talk to Wess Mitchell about it, can you ask him what he thinks that he could have said that could have given the Poles the impression that they were being – I don’t know –

QUESTION: Shunned.

QUESTION: -- shunned or would be shunned by --

MS NAUERT: I will see what I can find out. No guarantees, okay?

QUESTION: -- by the President, Vice President. Okay. Thank you.

https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2018/03/279076.htm