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Patriot missile defense system: Poland speaks of mistakes on the German side
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Bernd Wüstneck / ino / dpa
In back and forth about the German offer of Patriot air defense systems, Poland has accused the federal government of a breach of trust.
"The fundamental mistake of the German side was that they went to the media with the offer of the Patriot systems before the negotiations were over," Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told the public broadcaster TVP.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak had previously announced that his country would now adopt the German anti-aircraft systems.
Two weeks ago, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) made it public in an interview with the Rheinische Post and Bonn's General-Anzeiger that Germany was offering the Patriots to Poland to protect its airspace.
Blaszczak initially welcomed this and an agreement was reached.
Shortly thereafter, the national conservative PiS government duped Berlin with the proposal to relocate the anti-aircraft systems to western Ukraine instead of Poland.
This is problematic because, unlike Poland, Ukraine is not a member of NATO.
USA already delivered Patriots
In mid-November, a rocket fell in the Polish village of Przewodów, just six kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Two civilians died.
Currently, the West assumes that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile used to defend against attacks by the Russian military.
Lambrecht said that as a consequence of this event, the alliance had to position itself even better in terms of air defense.
This applies in particular to NATO partners such as Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic States, which directly border Russia and Ukraine.
So far it is unclear when the Patriots, who have been in service with the Bundeswehr since 1989, will arrive in Poland and where they will be stationed.
Nor are they the first in the region.
The Pentagon had already sent two of these anti-aircraft systems to Poland in March.
ptz/dpa
