ASSESSMENTS

In Poland, a Fixed U.S. Presence Will Warrant a Russian Response

Jun 7, 2019 | 09:30 GMT

Poland celebrates 20 Years in NATO.

A general visits a military base in Bydgoszcz, Poland on March 9, 2019, on the occasion of Poland's 20th anniversary of joining NATO.

(JAAP ARRIENS/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The United States will likely move forward with plans to expand its military presence in Poland in the coming quarter, which could include more than 1,000 new troops and the permanent stationing of forces in the country.
  • While Washington's presence may not come in the form of Warsaw's proposed "Fort Trump," it will nonetheless establish a more fixed measure of U.S. security support for Poland as an added layer of defense against Russia. 
  • Moscow will likely respond to such an agreement with military buildups of its own near Poland's borders, most likely by boosting defense assets in Belarus.

Poland has long courted the United States for a permanent military presence to serve as a barricade against Russian influence. Despite Poland's pleas, however, Washington has stuck with a more flexible defense approach in the country. But that may soon change now that U.S. President Donald Trump's at the helm. For more than a year, the United States and Poland have been in talks over such an agreement, which Polish officials have indicated could be finalized by as soon as Sept. 1. However, such a fixed U.S. presence near Russia will undoubtedly spur Moscow to ramp up its own military presence near Poland's borders -- placing Warsaw squarely in the middle of Moscow and Washington's increasingly heated great power competition....

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