POLAND – Redzikowo, Poland  (AFP) Poland on Wednesday opened a US missile base in northern Poland originally intended to defend the West against threats from the Middle East, a move criticised by Russia. The Redzikowo base, 230 kilometres (143 miles) from the Russian border, has been operational since July but was only officially inaugurated Wednesday. “A US destroyer on Polish soil has become a fact,” Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the ceremony. “It is an event of historical importance for the security of Poland, the United States and NATO. “Through the conflicts which are ongoing right now, the conflict in Ukraine or in the Middle East, we can see how important air defence and missile defence is,” he added. The inauguration comes as Warsaw and its regional allies brace for the US presidency of Donald Trump, who in the past has voiced admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. But US Ambassador Mark Brzezinski said at the ceremony he was “confident that this close partnership between our two nations will continue”. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski welcomed the project in a post on social media as “proof of the geostrategic consistency of the United States”. The base is part of a larger NATO shield including a system of radars that could intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles fired by countries such as Iran. (Jamaicaobserver)

Photo: Members of US 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command stands next to a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery during the NATO multinational ground based air defence units exercise “Tobruq Legacy 2017” at the Siauliai airbase some 230 km. (144 miles) east of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania. (AP)