LONDON – Some 18,000 troops from 19 mostly NATO countries begin annualUS-led military exercises in Poland and the Baltic states on Sunday toboost combat readiness on the alliance’s eastern flank as it faces anincreasingly assertive Russia.
The eighth Saber Strike manoeuvres, which will run until June 15, comeafter it was revealed Poland is considering a proposal to welcome apermanent deployment of US troops to the country.
A Polish defence ministry “information document” emerged this week showingthat Warsaw could spend between $1.5 to $2 billion (1.3 to 1.7 billioneuros) to help cover the cost of stationing a US tank unit in Poland.
The proposal triggered immediate criticism from Moscow, with the Kremlininsisting that any such deployment “will not benefit in any way thesecurity and stability on the continent”.
The US has ramped up its presence on NATO’s eastern flank and notablyPoland since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The US army set up a new European headquarters in Poland in May 2017 tocommand some 6,000 of its troops deployed in NATO and Pentagon operationsin the region.
The move was one of the largest deployments of US forces in Europe sincethe Cold War and was meant to reassure NATO’s easternmost allies spooked byRussia’s frequent military exercises near their borders and the Crimeaannexation.
*Cementing ties*
The US also leads a multi-national NATO battle group in Poland. Germany,Britain and Canada command three others in nearby Baltic states Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania, where Saber Strike manoeuvres are planned.
Speaking in Warsaw on Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg saidhe expected leaders at a July NATO summit in Brussels to “make decisions onreinforcement, readiness and military mobility” of forces in Europe,particularly with regard to the four battle groups deployed in 2016.
Further cementing strong defence ties with Washington, Poland signed a$4.75-billion (3.8-billion-euro) contract in March to purchase a US-madePatriot anti-missile system, in its largest-ever weapons deal.
Moscow complained about the prospect of the deployment of Patriot systemsin Poland and Romania, which it says violates a 1987 arms treaty and couldbe tailored to shoot missiles at Russia.
In February, Lithuania accused Russia of permanently deployingnuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles to its Kaliningrad exclave.This year’s Saber Strike manoeuvres will be partly held in this sensitiveregion.