US troops in Poland a ‘clear message’ to Russia: leader

“It is a clear message to Russia that breaching our border would be a costly venture,” Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, has said in an interview with the Gazeta Polska weekly.

Kaczyński added that anyone who questioned his country’s alliance with the United States was effectively acting against Poland’s interest.

A US military presence in Poland “is also a change in the geopolitical situation which is beneficial for us. Whoever questions that is not a Polish patriot, but rather someone who is either very silly and naïve, or who is acting in Russia’s interests,” said Kaczyński.

Warsaw has in recent months been making efforts to secure a boosted American presence in Poland, which lies on NATO’s eastern flank.

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.

(jh/pk)

Source: polskieradio24.pl