“The best tanks, Abrams and K2, will be in the east of the country. The Leopard tanks must undergo maintenance activities for which units in the west are prepared. This is the conclusion from the recommendation of the Chief of the General Staff,” Deputy Prime Minister, head of the Ministry of Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

The words were the reaction to the criticism from the opposition that the new Defence Minister decided to remove the Leopard tanks from the Eastern part of the country. 

The previous Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszak sent an official question to the new minister about the idea of redirecting the Leopard tanks to a military base situated in the West of Poland, namely the the 34th Armoured Cavalry Brigade in Żagań. 

Błaszczak also asked if the move was motivated by the controversial plan to settle the defence of the state in the event of war on the line of the Vistula River.

Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz assured that “according to NATO rule, we will defend every centimetre of Polish soil because we are the ones building Shield East, a fortification on the eastern border of our country”.

Photo: @MON_GOV_PL

Source: PAP

Tomasz Modrzejewski