Security in the V4 region as a result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the energy crisis were the main topics of the meeting of the Presidents of the Visegrad Group held in Bratislava with the participation of Andrzej Duda.

“In fundamental matters of military and energy security, we speak here today with one voice, both as the Visegrad community and as part of the broader community of Central Europe – the Bucharest Nine, the Three Seas Initiative. And I believe that thanks to this we can survive the most difficult challenges,” emphasised the Polish President.

The Presidents of Poland – Andrzej Duda, Slovakia – Zuzana Čaputová, Czech Republic – Miloš Zeman and Hungary – Katalin Novák took part in two plenary sessions.

The first part was devoted to the security situation in the V4 region following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine; the second to the energy crisis and common European solutions, including the need for a green transition.

Andrzej Duda said at the press conference that the talks focused on the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“We all know it in our countries, we came out from behind the Iron Curtain, we managed to reject communism once. We want to be a political part of the West today, and we are. And we have no intention of allowing Russian domination to spread again in our part of Europe”, said Andrzej Duda.

The Polish President thanked for the joint statement of the Bucharest Nine and Montenegro and North Macedonia, adopted on his initiative on Tuesday 11 October after a conversation with President Volodymyr Zelenski on Monday, in the face of “the terrible further bombardment committed by the Russians in Ukraine, bombing civilian infrastructure and committing further crimes in Ukraine”.

Adrian Andrzejewski