Russian-Belarusian exersices made Poland ask for help from US
13- 5.11.2009, 9:13
Poland's foreign minister called upon the US to deploy its troops on the territory of the country to defend it from military aggression.
During a conference in Washington Radoslaw Sikorski reminded that recently Russia and Belarus held joint military exercises not far from the Polish territory, where hundreds of tanks took part. As said by him, now there are only 6 US soldiers in Poland, BBC informs.
“There are 900 tanks on one side and only six soldiers on other. Could you be calm in this situation?” Reuters quotes Sikorski.
The minister noted that when Poland joined the NATO, Russia received assurances that the alliance won’t send considerable NATO forces to the region. "But nobody imagined at this time that no forces would be put in whatsoever. And so this is I think the job that is going to need to be done," the minister said.
Experts note that many people in Poland were disappointed by the decision of the US not to deploy anti-missile system elements in Poland.
Washington’s plans to place anti-missile system elements in Poland and the Czech Republic caused extreme discontent of Russia which found them aimed against its strategic interests. However, Washington underlined that the new system was to defend Europe and the US from possible missile blow from such countries as Iran.
Barack Obama, a new US president, reconsidered the decisions of the previous US administration and stated that he would create more effective missile shield without radars and anti-missile systems in Eastern Europe. However both in Russia and in the West this step was viewed as a concession to Russia made as a result of “rebooting” in the relations between Moscow and Washington.
Sikorski noted that US vice president John Biden who recently visited Poland, assured Warsaw that Washington is still its strategic partner. However as said by the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry, acts speak louder than words.
"If you can still afford it, we need some strategic reassurance," Sikorski said.
