Poland will establish two new army divisions, the Polish defence minister has announced.
Speaking after a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday ahead of a planned Nato summit in late-June aimed at adopting the alliance’s new strategic concept, Mariusz Blaszczak said one of the talks’ main topics was “the proportion between current forces in the region and forces ready for strengthening, for example, Nato’s eastern flank.”
“Poland is active not only as a recipient of military aid but also as a provider of security,” Blaszczak said. “We’re strengthening our armed forces, we’re creating two new military units, soon I will present a plan providing for the establishment of two further divisions, which will be deployed in the east of our country.”
The formation of the 18th Mechanised Division, with its command in Siedelce, eastern Poland, created from previously existing and new units, has been in progress since 2018.
“Strengthening the Polish Army serves to deter an aggressor so that the aggressor – of course, we’re talking about Russia – would not dare attack Poland or another North Atlantic Alliance country,” Blaszczak explained, adding that other Nato member states were also striving to increase their deterrence capacity by raising expenditures and increasing activity.
Blaszczak also told journalists that the alliance’s joint budget had been discussed and that he was in favour of increasing it. He pointed out that the current budget is lower than in the early 90s despite Nato now having more members and the fact that “there is a war on Nato countries’ borders.”