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Polish politicians in blame game over US troop presence

18.05.2026 14:45
Polish politicians have fallen into a public dispute over who bears responsibility for reports that the Pentagon has cancelled plans to rotate around 4,000 US troops into Poland.
Marcin Przydacz, head of Polands presidential International Policy Bureau, speaks to reporters on Monday.
Marcin Przydacz, head of Poland's presidential International Policy Bureau, speaks to reporters on Monday.Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

Marcin Przydacz, head of the presidential International Policy Bureau, said on Monday that the defence ministry bore primary responsibility for clarifying the situation directly with the Pentagon.

He suggested the ministry had not been sufficiently engaged in recent months, leading to what he called a degree of surprise at US decisions.

If direct defence contacts failed to resolve the matter within days, he said, it would be escalated to the political level.

Przydacz added that President Karol Nawrocki had spoken recently with US President Donald Trump and that the understandings reached in that conversation "absolutely remain in force".

He also called on Prime Minister Donald Tusk and parliamentary Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty to stop what he described as unnecessary anti-American narratives that were unhelpful to Poland's cause.

Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz is due to meet US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine on Wednesday.

A day earlier, Polish Chief of General Staff General Wiesław Kukuła is scheduled to meet the US and NATO commander in Europe, General Alexus Grynkiewicz.

The dispute follows Reuters reporting on Friday, citing two anonymous American officials, that the Pentagon had scrapped plans for the rotation.

CNN, also citing US defence sources, said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision was part of a broader effort to reduce American forces in Europe.

Polish PM Tusk said on Sunday that President Nawrocki had "thrown mud" at Poland in front of foreign leaders at a summit in Bucharest, and accused opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński of trying to shift blame for Washington's decisions onto Poland itself.

Kaczyński hit back within hours, saying Poland's NATO standing depended on trust which Tusk had "consistently undermined".

On Saturday he had already claimed the Tusk government had "destroyed" US relations in two years.

The Polish National Security Bureau (BBN), a presidential advisory council, said on Saturday that the reports did not directly or ultimately concern Poland, and that a rotation of American forces, including equipment and personnel, was under way.

(ał)

Source: PAP