Increasing US Troop Presence in Poland Will Violate Russia-NATO Act: Lavrov
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The day before, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced during a televised speech that Warsaw and Washington had decided to increase the US military presence in the country.
Commenting on the recently announced measures taken by Warsaw and Washingtom, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that the decision to deploy more US troops in Poland would violate the Russia-NATO founding act.
"[The plans] reflect the United States' policy of scrapping all security arrangements that have existed in the Euro-Atlantic region. In this case, we deal with undermining one of the key provisions of the founding act between Russia and NATO, according to which no substantial combat forces are stationed on a permanent basis on the territory of new members of NATO," Lavrov said.
At present there are around 4,000 US troops in Poland, deployed to the country as part of NATO's mission in the wake of Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014.
Last September, US President Donald Trump announced during a visit by his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda to Washington that the US was thinking of establishing a permanent military base in the country.
The Polish president offered to pay around $2 billion of the total costs and suggested that the base should be named Fort Trump.