I have no doubts US will step up military presence in Poland: defence minister

"We are not talking [with the United States] about whether the presence of the American army will be increased, only about how," Błaszczak said.

Asked whether he any doubts about whether the number of US troops in Poland would be stepped up, Błaszczak replied: "I have no such doubts. We are on the right track to achieve this success".

Błaszczak was speaking after the Rzeczpospolita daily reported on Monday that the US was considering setting up a permanent command headquarters in the western Polish city of Poznań, headed by a two- or three-star general.

The paper added that the US was also considering permanently stationing air force units in Łask, central Poland, and Mirosławiec, north-west Poland, and special forces in the southern city of Kraków.

Poland already hosts US troops on a rotating basis as part of NATO, and the Polish section of a US missile defence shield over Europe is being built by the Americans at Redzikowo in the north of the country.

Amid fears of Russian aggression following Moscow's annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014, NATO decided at a Warsaw summit in July 2016 to deploy four rotating multinational battalions to Poland and the Baltic states.

(pk)

Source: PAP