Media reports alleging that the United States had banned high-level meetings with Polish officials, as part of protest over the new Holocaust law, have been denied by Poland and the United States.
A report published by the privately owned Polish news website onet.pl said Washington had threatened to block funds for joint US-Polish security measures.
Polish officials did not immediately comment on that specific report, says the Reuters.
Poland, which has built close security ties with the United States in recent years amid concerns over a more assertive Russia, said “bilateral strategic cooperation” with its NATO ally remained unchanged.
But the new law has strained Warsaw’s ties with Washington.
Washington has been very critical of new Polish legislation that makes it a criminal offence to suggest Poland was complicit in the Holocaust, punishable with jail terms of up to three years.
Asked about the report of a US ban on top-level meetings with Polish officials, Deputy Foreign Minister Bartosz Cichocki told TVN24 private broadcaster: “It is not true. There was no ultimatum of that kind.”
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing that there were no high-level bilateral meetings planned for now, but that the media reports that allege any kind of suspension in security cooperation or high-level dialogue were “false”.
“That does not mean that we don’t have disagreements about the legislation that has taken effect,” Nauert said.
Onet.pl cited a memo from the Polish embassy in Washington as the source of its report. The Foreign Ministry in Warsaw said it did not comment on media reports regarding classified or official correspondence.
“Bilateral strategic cooperation (with the United States) is not threatened, and diplomatic contacts are maintained at the current level,” the ministry also said in emailed comments sent to Reuters.
It said a deputy foreign minister had visited the United States last week and that another deputy foreign minister would also visit the country soon.
In 2017, Poland welcomed the first US troops in a multi-national force which is being located across the Baltic region to help counter potential threats from Russia. This came after Russia moved nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles into its Kaliningrad enclave, which borders Poland and Lithuania.
Any hindrance to such security cooperation would alarm Poles who believe Russia wants to expand its influence in the region.
