Poland wants more NATO troops

Russia’s partial mobilization should spur the West to deploy more troops near its border, Poland’s security chief has said

Russia’s announcement of a partial military mobilization is a sign of defeat and poses no threat to Poland, but should be responded to with the deployment of more NATO troops in Eastern Europe, according to Pawel Soloch, a top Polish security official.

“In connection with this mobilization, we must press on for an increased allied presence on the eastern flank. This is an additional argument for having additional NATO troops in the east,” Soloch said in an interview with the Graffiti program on Polsat News on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that some military reservists would be called up to active service to help with the country's military offensive in Ukraine.

The measure is necessary because Russian troops are facing not only Ukraine itself, but also the “entire Western military machine,” Putin argued.

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Soloch, who heads the Polish National Security Bureau, called the Russian move evidence of Putin’s “defeat” and questioned the ability of the Russian Defense Ministry to call to arms 300,000 people, as it intends to.

Asked whether Polish security would be compromised by the increased number of Russian troops, he said that it wouldn’t. But “the Ukrainians may feel the effects of this mobilization in a few weeks,” Soloch added.

The Polish official branded Putin’s speech announcing the news as a rhetorical escalation of the conflict with the West, citing the “very vague threat of using nuclear weapons.”

The Russian president said that Russia would not hesitate to use any means at its disposal, if attacked with nukes or other weapons of mass destruction. The warning was addressed to unnamed senior officials in NATO states, who, according to Putin, argued that it would be acceptable to use nuclear weapons against Russia.