“NATO is aware that today Russia is the greatest threat is in eastern Europe, on the eastern flank of NATO, and the Alliance’s increasing the presence of allied troops, American troops, is crucial”, said Wojciech Skurkiewicz, Deputy Minister of National Defence.

Deputy Minister of Defence (MON) and Law and Justice (PiS) senator Wojciech Skurkiewicz spoke about the decisions that are being made at the NATO summit in Madrid.

“The most important information from yesterday evening is the fact that Turkey agrees to the enlargement of the Alliance because this was the greatest fear”, said the politician. He also referred to the information about new arrangements concerning NATO’s rapid reaction forces.

“This is also an absolutely groundbreaking decision, an increase from 40,000 to 300,000, 7.5 times. This is a gigantic increase and all the countries of the Alliance must be involved. The burden will not be borne by the USA, Great Britain or Poland on the eastern flank – all countries will have to be involved here”, said Skurkiewicz.

The Deputy Minister of Defense was also asked about NATO forces stationed in our country today. “In Poland there are approx. 12 thousand US soldiers plus soldiers of allied forces who are stationed in various formats, such as eFP (enhanced Forward Presence) in the north-east, which is the key element today including the Americans, the Romanians, the British, the Croats, it is a multinational battalion”, said the Deputy Minister.

“We are preparing for a significant expansion of the presence of American troops in an emergency situation, it is a very large quantitative expansion in terms of people and equipment, I am talking about tens of thousands. We are creating possibilities to host them in emergency situations”, announced Wojciech Skurkiewicz.

The American television NBC News, citing sources in the White House, has announced an extension of the increased US military presence in Poland.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński