Russia will respond to deployment of US military base in Poland: senator

If diplomatic efforts do not help convincing Poland to abandon the idea of deploying an American military base in its territory, then the Russian defense ministry will certainly respond to these actions, and the answer is already ready, Russian RIA Novosti agency quotes Yevgeny Serebrennikov, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee for Defense and Security, as saying.

According to him, the Ministry of Defense will take measures aimed at strengthening the country's security. "The Russian diplomatic community continues its work in this direction, hoping to anticipate this decision or to persuade Poland to abandon it. But, despite diplomatic efforts, the Ministry of Defense is ready to counteract it and, as far as I know, such activities are already being taken," the senator said.

Earlier, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the deployment of the base is a sovereign right of Warsaw, but it will result in retaliatory action from Moscow.

As EADaily reported earlier, it became known a day before that Warsaw was ready to pay up to $2 billion for the permanent US military base establishment on the Polish territory. The amount should cover a significant part of the funds for the appropriate infrastructure and maintaining the combat readiness of the units. In addition, part of the infrastructure already at the Polish Ministry of Defense disposal can be transferred to the use of the US military.

At the same time, it is clarified that Warsaw is ready "to share the burden of defense spending and make the decision more profitable for the US government."