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Spooked by Russia, Poland boosts army by 50,000 men
by Staff Writers
Warsaw (AFP) June 3, 2016


Poland will expand its armed forces next year to 150,000 men from the current 100,000 because of security concerns, Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said Friday.

He did not explicitly mention Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine or the pro-Moscow revolt in the country's east, but those events have already spooked Warsaw into bolstering its defence capabilities.

The NATO member and allies in the region have managed to obtain an alliance revamp putting more troops into eastern European member states -- a plan NATO leaders will formally endorse at a Warsaw summit next month.

"We've decided to increase the number of Polish troops. We estimate that next year the army will number around 150,000 men," Macierewicz told reporters.

He added that an important part of the new total would be the 35,000-member paramilitary force, whose first volunteers Poland will start enrolling in September.

The force's command structure and senior appointments were decided in April, Macierewicz had said on Thursday at a conference of paramilitary organisations in Poland.

Comprising civilians who have had military training, the force is intended to deter Russia from seizing Polish territory by infiltration, as it is perceived to have done in eastern Ukraine.

Each of Poland's 16 provinces are expected to have a brigade-level force, and Mazovia -- the biggest and most populous region in the centre of the country -- will have two.

Priority in deployment will be given to eastern provinces -- Podlachia, Lublin and Podkarpackie -- deemed to be the most exposed to Russian pressure.

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