M. Blaszczakas appeared on the “Radio ZET” show on September 1st, the anniversary of the start of World War II. At that time, the show’s host Bogdan Rymanowski asked him: “If Russia were to attack Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania, should Polish soldiers come to their aid?”
The former defense minister, now a member of the Polish Sejm, replied: “Polish soldiers must defend Poland. We need to be strong in alliances, as it was under PiS rule, and rely on cooperation with the USA.”
This answer, although the former minister later tried to justify himself on social media, caused a major scandal in Poland.
More: Huge scandal in Poland over the defense of the Baltic states.
The answers leave no doubt
After this interview, the radio station commissioned a public opinion poll, conducted by the Market and Social Research Institute IBRIS, which asked: “In your opinion, if there were a real aggression from Russia, must Poland help Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia?”
The results, as reported by radiozet.pl, are very clear – Poles feel responsible for the military security of NATO allies, regardless of what some politicians say about it.
“The issue of security in our region and fulfilling commitments to other NATO members is essential to Polish citizens – this conclusion can be drawn from the poll commissioned by Radio ZET,” the radio station reports.
Few doubters
Participants’ answers to the question of whether Poland should help Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in case of Russian aggression were distributed as follows:
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- Definitely yes – 47.5%
- Rather yes – 30.3%
- Rather no – 9.8%
- Definitely no – 6.3%
- Don’t know/hard to say – 6.1%
“The poll results clearly show a huge Polish solidarity with our Baltic NATO allies. Overall, as many as 77.8% of respondents support helping these countries if Russia attacks them. This result includes 47.5% answering ‘definitely yes’ and 30.3% ‘rather yes.’ Opponents of this position make up 16.1% (of which 9.8% answered ‘rather no’ and 6.3% ‘definitely no’),” summarizes Radio ZET.
The poll results clearly show a huge Polish solidarity with our Baltic NATO allies.
Another interesting aspect of this poll is that Poles are united on this issue regardless of political views, which is quite rare in Poland.
In this case, both supporters of the ruling parties and the opposition responded very similarly: among supporters of the ruling coalition parties, 83% support helping Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in case of Russian aggression (58% answered “definitely yes,” 25% “rather yes”), while among opposition voters (primarily the Law and Justice party (PiS), as well as the Polish Crown Confederation), support is even higher at 86% (48% said “definitely yes,” 38% “rather yes”).
This military support is more backed by men (86% in favor) than women (70%).
The survey was conducted by selecting respondents from all over Poland, by phone. It involved 1068 people and was carried out on September 4-5.
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