Andrzej Duda, new Polish president, has called on the NATO countries to deploy more troops as well as create new permanent military bases in his country and other Central Europe saying Poland does not want to be a “buffer zone.”
Duda, elected in May, criticized the alliance for not effectively adjusting itself to the recent Russia’s “imperialist actions” in Georgia and Ukraine as well as for treating his country as a “buffer zone” rather than an equal NATO member.
“We do not want to be the buffer zone. We want to be the real eastern flank of the alliance … Today, when we look at the dispersion of bases … then the borderline is Germany,” the conservative Polish President told The Financial Times. This was his first interview to a foreign media after entering the office on August 6.
He also urged the Atlantic bloc to strengthen its forces and increase its military presence in the Central Europe, particularly, by placing additional permanent bases in Poland. That, in his view, should symbolize recognizing Poland as a full-fledged NATO member.
“NATO has not yet taken note of the shift of Poland from the east to the west. NATO is supposed to be here to protect the alliance …  If Poland and other central European countries constitute the real flank of NATO, then it seems natural to me, a logical conclusion, that bases should be placed in those countries,” he said.
The Polish president added that the placing of permanent bases in Central Europe would be the central issue in the discussions during the NATO summit next year, hosted by Warsaw.