BRUSSELS — Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and President Donald Trump have spoken on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels about strengthening military cooperation.
The talk Wednesday comes as Poland is lobbying to have thousands of American troops permanently stationed in Poland as a deterrent against a resurgent Russia. According to news reports in Poland, the Warsaw government has offered up to $2 billion to help build the infrastructure for the permanent deployment.
The head of Duda’s office, Krzysztof Szczerski (KSHISH-tof SHARE-ski), told the state Polish news agency PAP that the leaders spoke “mainly about military cooperation, including the strengthening of Polish-American military cooperation in the field of equipment and cooperation of military units.”
The meeting marks a significant improvement of ties between the two countries after Poland recently softened a controversial Holocaust speech law that the U.S. had strongly opposed. Poland scrapped the threat of prison terms for claiming Poland is co-responsible for the Holocaust, but civil penalties can still apply.
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