NATO’s Stoltenberg: Poland and Slovakia will still back Ukraine after elections

COPENHAGEN, Sept 29 (Reuters) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday said he was confident that both Poland and Slovakia would continue to support Ukraine in its war with Russia after imminent elections, despite recent harsh rhetoric towards Kyiv.

Poland, which elects a new parliament on Oct. 15, said last week it would no longer agree to new arms deliveries to Ukraine but instead focus on rebuilding its own stocks.

Poland, a NATO member, had until recently been seen as one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in its war with Russia, but relations have soured since Poland’s decision to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports.

“I’m expecting and I’m confident that Ukraine and Poland will find a way to address those issues without that impacting in a negative way the military support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview in Copenhagen.

NATO-member Slovakia has also been a staunch ally of Ukraine, sending its eastern neighbour military equipment including MiG-29 fighter jets and an S-300 air defence system.

But opposition leader and former prime minister Robert Fico, who leads polls ahead of Saturday’ election, has pledged to end that military support.

“Whatever new government they will have in Slovakia, we will continue to sit down at NATO meetings,” Stoltenberg said, “and I’m confident that we’ll find ways to continue to provide support – as we have been after every election in this alliance since the war started.”

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.