Poland's right in sharing costs of US troops presence - security chief
The Polish government is right in expressing readiness to share the costs of potential increased presence of US troops on Polish soil, head of Poland's National Security Bureau (BBN) Pawel Soloch said on Monday.
A private news website on Sunday quoted a Defence Ministry document devoted to a Polish proposal under which Warsaw would contribute USD 1.5-2.0 bln to cover the cost of the stationing of a US armoured unit or an equivalent force in Poland.
Speaking to a private TV news channel, Pawel Soloch praised the Defence Ministry's initiative, saying the document quoted by the online publisher was just a kind of encouragement and "has not involved any tangible consequences yet."
"Yes, we are interested in the increased presence of US troops in our country and we offer for consideration - also to such organisations as think tanks - options that we can provide if such decisions were made," Soloch said.
He added that Poland's "readiness to share the costs of (...) the potential increased presence of US troops is both true and justified."
The security official noted that Poland is interested in bolstering the US military presence "together with increasing (..) the European (defence - PAP) efforts."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the potential establishment of a US military base in Poland was a sovereign decision every country can make, but he warned that Russia was ready to react to any enhancement of NATO infrastructure towards its borders.
Source: PAP