WARSAW, March 24. /TASS/. The leaders of NATO member countries haven’t made final decisions regarding Polish proposals for strengthening the alliance’s eastern flank, Polish President Andrzej Duda said at a news conference on Thursday following a NATO summit.
Duda said he and some other presidents proposed to change the format of NATO presence in the East "by introducing additional brigade battle groups, increasing the headcount and quality of that NATO presence and by additionally equipping the troops of the countries that are on the eastern flank, reinforcing them with additional equipment, at least for a while until they buy their own equipment, at least for missile and air defense."
"These were our proposals for the allies," he said. "These issues will be under discussion over the next few months because final decisions on this issue haven’t been made."
"There is and will be increased NATO presence on the alliance’s eastern flank," Duda went on to say. "Everyone raised this issue. There was not a single voice against increasing that presence."
"I believe that certain decisions, phrased in a concrete way, will be adopted at the NATO summit in Madrid, which will take place in 2 1/2 months," he said. "We have 2 1/2 months for talks in order to promote the Polish proposals and insist they be adopted," the president said.
"There's no fundamental rejection," he said. "Of course, there will be discussions about the final format for an expanded presence, but no one doubts that it's necessary.".