European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen didn’t mince any words toward Russia’s Vladimir Putin during a visit to Poland’s border with Belarus on Sunday.
“He is a predator,” von der Leyen said. “We have to keep the sense of urgency because we know that Putin has and will not change.”
The Commission chief is on a seven-country tour of the so-called front-line states to reassure them of the EU’s support against Russian aggression. Her trip coincides with amped-up efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a ceasefire in Putin’s war against Ukraine, now in it’s fourth year.
In addition to Poland, von der Leyen is visiting Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia — all of which share a border with Russia or Belarus — as well as Bulgaria and Romania, in what amounts to her biggest diplomatic push on EU security and defense since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Von der Leyen and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited Ozierany Male near a section of a newly completed electric fence on the Polish-Belarusian border.
Tusk said the border was “as important” as the dream of liberation from “Soviet domination” 45 years ago, referring to the anniversary of a milestone accord of Aug. 31, 1980.
“Poland, Europe, NATO, the United States must again, just as we once did, just as we felt the support of the entire West 45 years ago when Solidarity was founded, they must also today be very tough, decisive, and show solidarity towards this next version of the evil empire,” Tusk said.
Tusk added that von der Leyen had come to the Polish-Belarusian border “to find arguments to convince everyone in Europe that this is the border we must protect, and in which we must also invest European money.”
The Polish leader also said that security officials had recommended that the press conference on the border be scrapped because of Belarusian troops nearby, but Tusk and von der Leyen decided to go ahead anyway.
“We are here also to show this true European determination,” Tusk said.
The Commission president said that in the coming weeks, the EU executive would prepare a roadmap on how to invest additional money into the EU’s defense posture, which will be discussed at the European Council at the beginning of October.
Later Sunday, von der Leyen will be in Bulgaria to meet with Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov, before rounding out her trip on Monday with visits to Romania to see President Nicușor Dan and to Lithuania, where she will meet President Gitanas Nausėda.
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