At Warsaw Rose-Roth seminar, NATO parliamentarians reaffirm commitment to Ukraine, strengthened Allied defence and democratic resilience to confront Russian threat

Russia and its war on Ukraine remain the top threat for the Polish government as well as NATO. How best to galvanise and sustain international support for Ukraine, strengthen NATO deterrence and defence, increase and sustain defence spending, deepen defence industrial collaboration, enhance capabilities, and reinforce democratic resilience are all matters high on the agenda of NATO Allies.   

These were also among the main priorities that 66 parliamentarians from 20 NATO member and partner countries explored when the NATO Parliamentary Assembly convened the 106th Rose-Roth Seminar in Warsaw, Poland from 16 to 17 September at the invitation of the Polish Sejm and Senate. As devastating floods continued to impact southern Poland and much of Central Europe, NATO parliamentarians also expressed their solidarity with all affected countries.  

The seminar was held with the generous support of the Swiss Government and the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF). The NATO PA’s Defence and Security Committee and Sub-Committee on Transition and Development were associated with the seminar.  

Welcoming participants, Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, the head of the Polish Delegation to the NATO PA, noted that her country offers a unique vantage point from which to assess Russia’s malign intentions to redraw the European map. Marcos Perestrello de Vasconcellos (Portugal), Vice-President of the NATO PA, recognised the critical role Poland plays in NATO, including supporting Ukraine and taking the lead among members by not just meeting the pledge to spend at least 2% of GDP for defence, but well exceeding it. H.E. Mr Fabrice Filliez, Ambassador of Switzerland to Poland, highlighted the importance of NATO’s and the NATO PA’s partnerships in upholding shared values and strengthening security throughout the Euro-Atlantic area. 

Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, Speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, told delegates that the security landscape has changed fundamentally since Poland re-established its democracy more than three decades ago. At that moment, optimism ran high, there was a sense that history had culminated in a kind of democratic peace. That dream has now vanished, she said. When Poland last hosted a Rose-Roth seminar a decade ago, Russia was already conducting a hybrid war in Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine has now escalated into full scale war, while “hybrid wars are now being waged in the minds of our citizens.”  

Several speakers stressed the urgency of stepping up assistance to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s attacks. The coming winter will prove particularly challenging and potentially decisive, given Russia’s sustained attacks on civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine’s energy networks. Solomiia Bobrovska, deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the NATO PA, urged Allied governments to authorise extending range limits on the missiles they supply so that Ukraine would be better positioned to attack Russian supply lines. “The intensity of attacks on Ukraine makes this request more urgent,” she said. “July and August were the deadliest months so far in Ukraine [and] this situation must be reversed.”  

Pawel Kowal, head of the Polish Committee on National Security and the Council for Cooperation with Ukraine, echoed Ms Bobrovska’s call and observed that if Russia were to prevail in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states would be among its next objectives. He said that Putin’s ultimate ambition is to shift the borders either by force if necessary, or negotiation if possible.  

For Polish authorities, the situation in neighbouring Belarus remains particularly concerning too. Putin has essentially eviscerated Belarussian sovereignty and transformed the country into a geographical space it can exploit to conduct its war of aggression and launch devastating air attacks, effectively creating another front which Ukraine must now defend. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the Democratic Forces of Belarus and head of the United Transition Cabinet, told assembled parliamentarians in a video address that “against the overwhelming will of the Belarusian people, Belarus has become a launching pad for attacks on Ukraine.” Europe’s security will be at risk if Belarus remains a captive nation ruled undemocratically by a leader who is now dutifully serving Russia’s interests, she told the delegates. 

Pavel Latushka, deputy head of the United Transition Cabinet and head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, told delegates that for Lukashenko, democracy is suicide, and, with Russian support, the Belarusian autocrat has created a regime of terror and repression. He called on Allied parliaments to support Belarus’ democratic forces, to be vocal about the regime’s crimes, to issue more visas to Belarusian exiles, and to provide scholarships to the younger generation who will be instrumental to building the country’s future.  

Reinforcing democratic resilience through whole-of-society approaches emerged as a central theme of the seminar. The challenge is particularly acute at a moment when Russia is both conducting a full-scale war against Ukraine and deploying hybrid warfare and disinformation tactics against Ukraine and its supporters in NATO. Countering hybrid threats, pervasive disinformation campaigns, and election interference are essential components of Allied defence. 

Anne Applebaum, a senior fellow of international affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), suggested that a group of authoritarian countries including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea pose the greatest challenge to global democracy. These dictatorships operate in an opportunistic manner and exploit the kinds of vulnerabilities inherent to open societies. She suggested the international system as currently constructed is poorly positioned to counter the threat and that new approaches bringing together ad hoc coalitions of democracies were needed to push back against this threat. This was a war of ideas, Applebaum stressed, warning against taking democracy for granted.  

Allies need to put up a more robust resistance to these trends, Applebaum and other speakers suggested. NATO PA Vice-President Perestrello de Vasconcellos reminded members that NATO PA President Gerald E. Connolly (United States) has led the Assembly’s campaign to establish a Centre for Democratic Resilience at NATO headquarters to ensure that the core ambition of defending democracy remains at the very heart of the Alliance and its policies. 

Darko Stancic, Assistant Director and Head of Operations Europe and Central Asia at DCAF warned that the first victim of the downfall of democracy is the security sector; it is the first to get captured. It is essential, therefore, for NATO and the EU to support democratic oversight and make sure that security institutions are held to account. 

The seminar also addressed the need for deeper Allied defence industrial collaboration and greater levels of military spending. Twenty-three out of thirty-two NATO Allies now meet the agreed minimum benchmark of spending 2% of GDP for defence - compared to three when leaders first agreed to this commitment. Poland spends more than any other NATO member and is preparing a budget expected to reach 4.7% of GDP, former NATO PA President and current MEP Michal Szczerba noted. While the Russian economy is now on a full war footing, Allies must continue to step up.  

Marcin Buzanski, director of the Centre for Diplomacy and Negotiation at the Collegium Civitas, suggested that generating resources to purchase capabilities is fundamental to deterrence, while deeper collaboration among Allies will provide more capabilities at lower costs. Nina Soljan, head of NATO Affairs and Security Policy Section in NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Policy Division, added that Allies cannot rely on market forces alone to drive greater defence industrial capacity. “NATO plays a vital role here,” she suggested, “because NATO is a standard setter, and NATO drives the interoperability of equipment.” 

Finally, seminar participants also explored the transformation of the security situation in the Baltic region that Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO has precipitated. That body of water is now an internal NATO sea, said Major General Karol Dymanowski, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces. Efforts are underway to develop integrated approaches to the region’s security, including joint exercises, synchronised operational planning, coordinated procurement, and ensuring that doctrines and standards fully align.  

As part of the seminar, participants paid a visit to the Lucznik Arms Factory (Radom), where they had the opportunity to see firsthand an example of Poland’s growing commitment to increase its military preparedness through expanded state-of-the-art arms production. 

The Assembly’s flagship Rose-Roth programme, initiated in 1991 by US Congressman Charlie Rose and Senator Bill Roth, is a unique platform bringing together lawmakers from NATO and partner countries, experts, government officials and civil society representatives to promote dialogue, support the development of democratic parliamentary oversight, enhance parliamentary awareness and share experience and expertise.  

Additional topics of discussion during the seminar included: 

• The strengthening of European defence and NATO-EU cooperation  
• Strategies for containing Russia 
• The challenge of disinformation  
• The armed forces’ role in addressing national disasters. 

Throughout the seminar, Members of Parliament engaged with the following speakers: 

Polish officials 

• Major General Karol DYMANOWSKI, First Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces 
• Vice Admiral Krzysztof JAWORSKI, Commander Maritime Operations Center, Poland 
• Jacek SIEWIERA, Secretary of State, Head of the National Security Bureau 
• Cezary TOMCZYK, Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence of Poland 

Members of Parliament 

• Malgorzata KIDAWA-BLONSKA, Speaker of the Senate of Poland 
• Solomiia BOBROVSKA, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, Committee on National Security and Defence, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to the NATO PA 
• Pawel KOWAL, Chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee, Sejm 
• Michal SZCZERBA, Former President of the NATO PA, Member of the European Parliament, Committee on Foreign Affairs  

Foreign and International Officials 

• Fabrice FILLIEZ, Ambassador of Switzerland to Poland 
• Pavel LATUSHKA, Deputy Head of the United Transition Cabinet of Belarus 
• Nina SOLJAN, Head, NATO Affairs and Security Policy Section, Political Affairs and Security Policy Division (PASP), NATO  

Experts and Civil Society 

• Anne APPLEBAUM, Writer and Historian, Senior Fellow of International Affairs, The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Senior Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute 
• Marcin BUZANSKI, Director, Center for Diplomacy and Negotiation, Collegium Civitas 
• Anna DYNER, Senior Research Fellow, International Security, Polish Institute of International Affairs 
• Justina GOTKOWSKA, Deputy Director, Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) 
• John LOUGH, Associate Fellow, Russia and Eurasia programme, Chatham House 
• Maia MAZURKIEWICZ, Co-founder StratComm, Alliance4Europe 
• Katarzyna PISARSKA, Chair of the Warsaw Security Forum 
• Darko STANCIC, Assistant Director, Head of Operations Europe and Central Asia, Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) 
• Marcin WALECKI, Ukraine Senior Resident Country Director, National Democratic Institute (NDI) 

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Photos of the Seminar