Poland wants Trump’s vow of protection from Russian activity – Military Times

Posted: July 4, 2017 at 7:57 am

WARSAW, Poland Poland's government would like visiting President Donald Trump to make assurances this week that the presence of U.S. and NATO troops in Poland will continue as long as the region's security is threatened by Russia, the foreign minister said Monday.

Trump is to deliver a speech in Warsaw during a brief visit Thursday. The visit comes before Trump attends a G-20 summit in Germany, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Minister Witold Waszczykowski told reporters that Poland would like to hear Trump's assurances that the recently installed rotational presence of thousands of U.S. and NATO troops in Poland will continue. The deployments were decided by NATO and by the U.S. administration under former president, Barack Obama.

Waszczykowski said he was less concerned about Trump's apparent reluctance to confirm NATO's Article 5, which says that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all, and pledges mutual defense. The president eventually did confirm his commitment to the article in a news conference on June 9.

The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw is inviting Poles to attend Trump's speech saying on posters and on its website it will be a "historic event."

"This region needs investment and needs to be catching up (with Europe's West)," said Duda's foreign ministry aide, Krzysztof Szczerski.

"It will be harder and harder to obtain EU funds, the needs will be growing and the gap will need to be filled," he said.

The talks will also tackle further military and armaments cooperation.

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Poland wants Trump's vow of protection from Russian activity - Military Times

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