MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. The US missile defense base in Poland will defend not only the US, but also Poland and other European countries, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said at a ceremony to open the base in the town of Redzikowo.

"The current version of the anti-missile base can protect not only the US, but also Europe including Poland," he said in comments broadcast by TVP Info television.

The minister also expressed hope that the base will never go into action.

"I will pray so that it will never be engaged," Sikorski said.

On October 11, he mentioned there is an agreement with the US for the Redzikowo base to "shoot down Russian missiles flying toward Poland, not only Iranian missiles flying toward the US."

The opening ceremony was also attended by Polish President Andrzej Duda and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz. The US was represented by Admiral Stuart Munsch, commander of US naval forces in Europe and Africa; and Ambassador to Warsaw Mark Brzezinski.

The Redzikowo base is the first permanent US military base in Poland.

It hosts an Aegis Ashore system and is part of the European Phased Adaptive Approach program for the deployment of missile defense components in Europe. The program also includes Aegis radar-equipped ships based in Rota, Spain, an AN/TPY-2 radar station in Turkey (on combat duty since 2011), and another Aegis Ashore site at the Deveselu base in Romania.

Construction of the Redzikowo site began in 2016. According to publicly available sources, it cost the US $850 million. Initially, it was planned to put the base into operation in 2018, but the construction was delayed. The site wasn’t ready to operate until December 2023. The process of its transfer to NATO followed. At the NATO summit in Washington in July 2024, the alliance announced full operational readiness of the Aegis Ashore system in Poland.