The US and Poland have signed a military cooperation deal that includes buying F-35 fighters and hosting US troops, while claiming they’d love to have better relations with Russia. Poland will also buy US liquefied natural gas.
Ahead of the joint press conference on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda watched a F-35 conduct a flyover above the White House, in a stunt meant to celebrate Warsaw’s decision to purchase 32 of the US-made jets. Trump spoke of the “unbreakable bonds” between the two countries, which, he said, were bound by “deep common values” and “shared goals.”
Poland will provide “basing and infrastructure to support military presence of about 1,000 American troops,” at no cost to the United States, Trump said.
The symbolic move is designed “to show that Poland is relevant,” Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the Pentagon, told RT. “It is meant to bolster Poland and give it some relevance in that NATO defense… It’s really to boost morale, and I guess to show the Russians that the US and NATO mean business.”
Duda also signed contracts worth around $8 billion for American LNG, Trump said. Warsaw already has a 20-year deal to buy LNG from the US in a bid to give up Russian gas entirely, despite the fact that American gas is more expensive and is not as reliable to meet Poland’s needs.
Asked by a reporter how he felt about Germany’s decision to work with Russia on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Trump said Germany was making a “tremendous mistake,” and was making itself a “hostage” of the Kremlin. However, the US president once again stumped everyone by insisting he would like a “great relationship” with Russia, China “and many other countries.”