NATO not afraid of Russia

Decisions to be approved at this week's NATO summit in Warsaw will build a deterrence force that should make Russia "forget about threatening Poland" and other nations, Poland's Defence Minister said on Monday.

Antoni Macierewicz spoke to The Associated Press several days before the NATO July 8-9 Warsaw Summit, where 2,000 delegates from the 28 NATO members and some partner nations will meet to approve the station of a few thousand troops in Poland and the Baltic states.

Their presence was requested by these countries, which are nervous about their security after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and started supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine.

"Only a show of real readiness to defend our borders can effectively halt Russia's aggressive intentions," Macierewicz said. "Russia must forget about threatening Poland, Europe and other countries in the world."

The summit will also debate deployment of allied command for intelligence and reconnaissance in the region that is collectively called NATO's eastern flank, Defence Minister stated.

With the planned stationing of troops "we are becoming a full member of NATO," Macierewicz said. "Not only a political entity, but one that we have always very much wanted to be, the country that the Poles have waited 70 years to be. We will be fully protected by a joint force."

It is not clear how soon the troops and their equipment will be deployed. Each of the battalions will be under the command of a Western NATO member: the U.S., Britain, Germany and Canada. A separate U.S. brigade is also to be stationed in the region on NATO's eastern flank, which borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad (former Koenigsberg).

Leaders in Moscow have warned they will take steps in response, but have not specified what.

A die-hard dissident repeatedly arrested under communism, Macierewicz said "we can forget about fear" even though, he said, Russia is taking steps that are a threat to regional and wider peace, such as their recent actions in Ukraine or moving troops and weapons on its own territory.

Russia aims to constantly keep the West off balance, as it hates NATO's proximity to “zones of influence”. However, if NATO and the wider world ignores Russia's repeated warmongering and other violations of international laws, Moscow will not be deterred from its aggressive path.

Georgia also needs some guarantees of defence. It is interesting how NATO intends to do this when Georgia is consistently refused a Membership Action Plan and membership.

Now that Georgia has met all of NATO's demands, the Warsaw Summit will reveal NATO's true intentions towards Tbilisi.

One should keep in mind that refusal of NATO to grant Georgia alliance membership or at least MAP at the Summit in April 2008 in Bucharest gave green light to Moscow, which started war with Georgia. As the result 20% of Georgia’s territory is occupied by Russia.