In February, NATO defense ministers agreed to strengthen the alliance's military presence on the eastern flank. Such a presence would be "multinational, to make clear that an attack against one ally is an attack against all allies," Stoltenberg said at the time.



NATO is studying two possible plans for deploying the permanent troops: a battalion in Poland and each of the three Baltic states (roughly 800 to 1,000 in each unit); or, a more modest version, a single NATO battalion in the area. Those troops could deploy to the eastern flank in six-month rotations as Baltic air policing has been carried out since 2004 with four-month rotations.



Now NATO is dealing with this issue with the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force — the "spearhead" force — a measure the Eastern countries seem to think is lacking.



The Polish government is aware that the request for a permanent NATO military presence could face resistance from allies that do not perceive the Russian threat as Poland does, the officials said.



"NATO will produce a message of unity to Russia at the Warsaw summit ... although we have different challenges, different threats, different solutions," Waszczykowski answered when asked about the diverse concerns of southern European countries. He offered "Polish solidarity" as NATO fights terrorism and deals with migration issues and instability in the Middle East and North Africa.



Asked to describe the Russian threat to Poland, the defense minister said: "In the '90s Russia held two wars in Chechnya; in 2008, Georgia; in 2014, Crimea, and its support to separatists in Donbass. ... What more evidences do you need?"



"Do you think Western European countries' troops would die for Estonia?" a Dutch journalist asked.



"Nobody wants to die for [other countries], but I would do it for Amsterdam," Macierewicz said.







Other Polish concerns are related to the deployment of the Iskander short-range ballistic missiles system in Kaliningrad. "We also need to have an answer to it. Those Iskander missiles can hit Poland but also Germany," Macierewicz said.



The Polish authorities reiterated the country does not aspire to have nuclear weapons, but instead endorsed "nuclear sharing."