The Pentagon is to present its appraisal of the plans for locating a new permanent American army base in Poland by March, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak has said.

Błaszczak told state broadcaster TVP Info Friday that negotiations on the construction of the site are still underway. He added that he had already held talks on the matter with the White House, Congress and the Pentagon.

Błaszczak is to further discuss the issue with US Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan at a gathering of the NATO defence ministers in Brussels in February.

Poland already hosts US troops on a rotating basis as part of NATO, and the Polish section of a US missile defence shield over Europe is being built by the Americans at Redzikowo in the north of the country.

Amid fears of Russian aggression following Moscow's annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014, NATO decided at a Warsaw summit in July 2016 to deploy four rotating multinational battalions to Poland and the three Baltic states.

(aba)

Source: PAP