Poland and the Baltic states on Monday condemned the comments of Czech presidential candidate Andrej Babis, who said that if elected he would not send troops to help with NATO’s collective defense, AFP reports.

In the second round of voting on January 27-28, the billionaire will meet retired general Petro Pavel, the former head of NATO’s military command.

Asked during a televised debate on Sunday whether he would send troops if Poland or the Baltic states were attacked, Babis said: “No, absolutely not.”

Article 5 of the NATO treaty obliges member states to come to the aid of one of them in the event of an attack.

“I want peace. I don’t want war. And under no circumstances will I send our children and the children of our women to war,” continued the former prime minister.

He later tweeted that he had never questioned Article 5 and that his statements had been cut short.

“Andrii Babish’s statements (…) are absurd and dangerous. They raise doubts about trust and cooperation with NATO,” reacted the president of the PSL opposition party, Vladyslav Kosinyak-Kamysh.

“They can start pouring champagne in the Kremlin,” he added.

Arriving at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Affairs in Brussels, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Urmas Reinsalu, called Babish’s words “the worst example” of violation of security issues by domestic political interests.

“I just want to answer that Mr. Babis should know that Estonia will send its soldiers if the Czech Republic is in crisis,” he said.

Also, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis assured that “if the freedom, sovereignty or territorial integrity of the Czech Republic is ever questioned by an external force, the Lithuanians will stand in solidarity with the Czech people.”

His Latvian colleague Edgars Rinkevičs called Babish’s statements “disturbing”.

“Such comments, even motivated by internal political considerations, go too far. This is not very responsible,” he continued.

Distrustful of Russia because of decades of Soviet rule, the Baltic states fear they will be next on Moscow’s list if Russia wins in Ukraine.