U.S. and Poland agree on military cooperation to deter Russia
The United States Department of Defense reported that the head of the Pentagon, James Mattis, held a meeting with the Polish Defense Minister Marius Blaszczak, during which the parties agreed on cooperation in the defense sphere.
“Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis met with Polish Defense Minister Marius Blaszczak today at the Pentagon to reaffirm the strong defense relationship between the United States and Poland and continuing commitment to work bilaterally through NATO to deter Russ," the report said.
Mattis thanked Blaszczak for Poland’s offer to “for increased U.S. force posture options in Poland”, as well as for the Warsaw’s role in deploying 4,500 U.S. troops in Central Europe on a rotational basis.
During his visit to Washington in September, Polish President Andrzej Duda proposed to deploy the permanent U.S. military base in Poland. In his opinion, this is the only guarantee of his country's security against Russian aggression.
In March, Poland signed a contract for the supply of the U.S. Patriot missile defense systems.