U.S. to send 1,000 troops to Poland, Obama says

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States will send about 1,000 troops to Poland as part of an effort by NATO to beef up its eastern flank, President Barack Obama announced at a North Atlantic summit Friday, July 8, according to USA Today.

Obama said the U.S. would rotate battalions into Poland "to serve shoulder to shoulder with Polish soldiers," and that an armored brigade would move its headquarters to Poland, which Obama called one of the United States' "most committed and important allies."

The move is an effort to bolster NATO's strength in Eastern Europe in order to deter further Russian aggression, USA Today says.

Obama made the announcement after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, who's hosting the NATO summit in Warsaw. Duda welcomed "decisive support" by the United States.

By using rotating battalions, the U.S. is technically living up to a 1997 treaty with Russia that prohibits "additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces" in eastern Europe, while reassuring Poland and other NATO allies that it has a "solemn, binding" duty to help defend them. Part of that strategy includes pre-positioning heavy equipment and munitions to the regions to be used by rapid-response troops based elsewhere.

The new troop rotation announcement follows a series of steps by NATO to move military personnel and equipment into central and eastern Europe. The U.S. is building advanced radar systems in Germany and Turkey, moving surveillance drones to Italy and stationing troop transports in Hungary.