Nawrocki after Ankara NATO summit: Alliance united, path to permanent US bases in Poland open

Alliance unity and US commitment

President Karol Nawrocki, speaking after the two-day NATO summit in Ankara, said the meeting confirmed the strength of the transatlantic bond. "We leave Ankara convinced that the North Atlantic Alliance is united," he told reporters. The Polish leader stressed that the alliance is "strong and determined to defend the values for which it was created."

There is no NATO without the United States and without cooperation between the United States and Europe.

Nawrocki said the summit's closing declaration left no doubt about the alliance's readiness to respond to international challenges. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski described the results as "above expectations," adding that Poland spoke with one voice in Ankara.

Russia named main threat

The summit explicitly identified Russia as the primary and long-term threat to NATO. Nawrocki said this was crucial for Poland and the entire Central and Eastern European region. "The whole Alliance feels the main threat from the Russian Federation," he said, noting that the language was included in the final communiqué.

Russia is today the greatest threat to the North Atlantic Alliance.

The Polish president also credited Donald Trump's pressure on European allies to rapidly increase defense spending, calling it "NATO 3.0" and noting that many countries have doubled or even tripled their outlays in the past year.

Permanent US bases in Poland

Nawrocki expressed confidence that the number of American troops in Poland will not decrease and that the political path to a permanent US presence is now open. He referenced a letter from US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz as a positive signal.

The path to a permanent presence of American troops in Poland, at the presidential and political level, is open.

He added that the details now rest with the Polish and American defense ministries. During the summit, Nawrocki had a brief conversation with President Trump at a dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, where the topic of permanent basing was again discussed.

Infrastructure and spending

Poland, which spends nearly 5% of GDP on defense, pushed for NATO to extend its dual-use fuel pipeline infrastructure eastward. Currently, pipelines end at the former border between East and West Germany. Nawrocki said the NATO Secretary General announced that this is becoming a financial and infrastructure priority for the alliance.

Relations with Ukraine

Nawrocki also held an unplanned, roughly hour-long meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the summit. While no new concrete agreements on US troop levels emerged from Ankara, the Polish side described the closed-door allied discussions as constructive.

It's a pity we can't talk about what was in the closed sessions, but I want you to trust us that it was a really good, allied conversation.