4,000 US troops to be deployed in Poland in 2017: US commander

Some 4,000 US soldiers along with vehicles and other equipment will be deployed in Poland in 2017, a US senior commander said on Tuesday.

Xinhua news agency quoted Lieutenant General Frederick Hodges, commander of the United States Army Europe, as saying that at the start of next year, the troops would arrive in Germany from where they would continue on to Poland.

Hodges gave this speech at a German armed forces logistics school in Osterholz-Scharmbeck in northern Germany. He said northern Germany would be a logistical hub for transferring US troops to Central and Eastern Europe.

The aim of the deployment was to secure peace in Europe and provide a demonstration of strength aimed at Russia, Hodges added.

Polish News Agency reported that as part of the Atlantic Resolve NATO operation, these soldiers would strengthen US forces in NATO's eastern countries.

At the Warsaw summit in July, NATO leaders agreed to deploy four battalions with a size of up to 1,000 each to the three Baltic states and Poland.

--IANS

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