Poland is safe as part of Nato, MoD says

Poland is safe because it is in Nato, the defence minister said on Saturday as the country marked the 23rd anniversary of Poland's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.

Mariusz Błaszczak, who met with soldiers of the multinational Nato eFP Battle Group at Bemowo Piskie, northern Poland, said that the anniversary of joining Nato falls at the exceptional time of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

But he said that while there is a war at the borders of Poland, "Poland is safe... because it is part of the North Atlantic Alliance."

"The soldiers of the Polish Army arm-in-arm with soldiers of the United States, Great Britain, Romania and Croatia, take care of our safety here on Polish soil," Błaszczak said.

He added that through military exercises, multinational troops build interoperability and "are able to ensure the security of our homeland in this difficult and dangerous situation."

The Polish-stationed Battalion Battlegroup is one of four Nato multinational battalion battlegroups formed under the Alliance's Enhanced Forward Presence operation in Central and Eastern Europe. The Enhanced Forward Presence undertaking followed decisions made at the 2016 Nato summit in Warsaw. The unit in Bemowo Piskie consists of US, British, Romanian and Croatian troops.