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Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian brigade ‘to be ready next year’

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 25.01.2016 17:15
A new joint Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian brigade will be operational next year, Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said on Monday.
Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz (centre) with his Lithuanian counterpart Juozas Olekas (left) and Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak (right). Photo: PAP/Wojciech Pacewicz Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz (centre) with his Lithuanian counterpart Juozas Olekas (left) and Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak (right). Photo: PAP/Wojciech Pacewicz

During a ceremony in Lublin, eastern Poland, to mark the launch of the brigade, which is ultimately to comprise 4,000 soldiers, Macierewicz said the unit would take part in UN peacekeeping missions.

But in an apparent reference to Russia, Poland’s giant neighbour to the east, he added the brigade “is a very clear signal to anyone who would want to disturb peace in Europe.”

“There’s a very good chance, even bordering on certainty, that this brigade will reach operational readiness next year,” Macierewicz added in Lublin after meeting his Ukrainian and Lithuanian counterparts.

The defense ministers of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine decided to form the joint brigade in 2007. A year later it was decided the unit should be bigger than initially planned.

An agreement on creating the brigade was repeatedly postponed. It was finally signed in Warsaw in September 2014. (pk)

Source: PAP

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