Washington: Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of US ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of Nato presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine, said Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak after a meeting with US defence secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Mr Siemoniak said the decision has been made on a political level and that military planners are working out details. There will also be intensified cooperation in air defense, special forces, cyberdefense and other areas. Poland will play a leading regional role, “under US patronage,” he said.
“The idea until recently was that there were no more threats in Europe and no need for a US presence in Europe any more,” Mr Siemoniak said. “Events show that what is needed is a repivot.”
Mr Siemoniak said there was widespread support at a recent meeting of European defence ministers over increase in defence spending.
“The annexation of Crimea poses a potential danger to the Baltic nations, which are members of Nato, and even more to Moldova, Belarus and central Asian nations that are not, he said. Mr Siemoniak said Russia’s “special operation in eastern Ukraine didn’t go as planned” and that Mr Putin may play a longer game.
