US opens missile base in Poland just 230 km away from Russia

On November 13, a US missile base was officially opened in Poland. The base is located in the town of Redzikowo, just 230 kilometers from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad enclave.

Photo: flickr.com by SFJZ13, CC BY 2.0

During the ceremony, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said that the event was of "historic significance for the security of Poland, the United States and NATO."

"Current conflicts, for example in Ukraine or the Middle East, show us how important air and missile defense is,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the base "significantly strengthens the ability of the alliance to defend against the growing threat of ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic area."

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Kaliningrad known as Königsberg until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland. The city sits about 663 kilometres (412 mi) west of the bulk of Russia. The city is situated on the Pregolya River, at the head of the Vistula Lagoon on the Baltic Sea, and is the only ice-free Russian port on the Baltic Sea. Its population in 2020 was 489,359. Kaliningrad is the second-largest city in the Northwestern Federal District, after Saint Petersburg, the third-largest city in the Baltic region, and the seventh-largest city on the Baltic Sea