Poland agrees to deploy German troops to strengthen NATO's eastern flank

Poland agreed to deploy German troops on its territory to strengthen NATO's eastern flank, Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Andrzej Szejna said in an interview with Rzeczpospolita.

Szejna recalled the format of NATO's military presence in Lithuania. Since 2017, the Baltic country has hosted a multinational NATO group of about 1,500 troops.

The deployment of German troops on the territory of Poland will strengthen the eastern flank of NATO that is the closest one to Russia.

"With the war raging beyond our eastern border, any assistance and cooperation from our allies is greatly appreciated. If the Germans want to strengthen NATO's eastern flank in Poland, as they did in Lithuania, then they are welcome," Andrzej Szejna said.

In December, the head of Poland's Bureau of National Security (BBN), Jacek Siewiera, insisted that NATO countries needed to build up forces in the east to counter Russia. His remarks came as a comment to a recent study by the German Society for Foreign Policy (DGAP), which said that European countries and NATO were only six to nine years away from confrontation with Russia. The head of BBN also said that the German analysis coincided with studies prepared in the United States.