2024-11-13 15:05 update: 2024-11-15, 14:00
Photo PAP/Adam Warżawa
Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday the entire word will no longer see Poland as the Russian zone of influence, as he joined other Polish, NATO, and US senior officials at the opening of the US anti-ballistic missile base in northern Poland.
The Polish head of state said that the opening ceremony for the military facility in Redzikowo - which was been delayed numerous times - was an extremely "important, symbolic and touching" event for him.
According to the president, the US permanent military anti-missile base became news to him in 2008, long before Duda assumed the highest office in Poland for the first time, and when the base's construction process kicked off. At the time, he served as minister in the office of the former Polish President Lech Kaczynski. In his speech, Duda added that Kaczynski, who tragically died in a plane crash in Russia in April 2010, was a strong backer of the idea of placing this US military base on Polish soil, pointing to security as the primary reason.
Poland's late head of state, Duda added, used to say that because it would be the anti-ballistic military complex, it would not directly defend Poland as its purpose was to protect other European states from ballistic projectiles launched from the Middle East, but nevertheless Kaczynski stressed his importance for Poland.
"It was to be an American anti-missile base, securing American confidential military information and one of the biggest secrets of the United States that it will guard," Duda said, recalling past talks with Kaczynski.
During the opening ceremony, Duda was accompanied by the Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Kremlin criticised Washington for locating its anti-missile base in northern Poland, further vowing to play the same card.
The US base in Redzikowo is equipped with an American-made Aegis naval weapon system, a part of the Aegis Ashore NATO anti-ballistic shield. America's second and similar military complex is located in Romania, with a command centre for both Romanian and Polish bases in Germany and a radar facility in Turkey.
Washington has poured hundreds of millions of US dollars into the construction of this military base, postponing the official opening since 2018 due to, among other reasons, construction issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. (PAP)
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