Joint US-Polish military exercises Defender Europe 2020 Plus launched in Poland. The maneuvers were launched by the Minister of Defense Mariusz Blaszczak at a training ground in Dravsko-Pomorsk.

During the opening ceremony, Blaschak said that these exercises are evidence of the close interaction of Polish and American soldiers.

“The epidemic has changed our plans, but the most important thing is that we were able to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. The Polish army has not lost its combat readiness for a minute, and the presence of American troops in Poland indicates high confidence on the part of our American partner, ”Gazeta Prawna quoted the Polish minister as saying.

The current maneuvers are a significantly reduced version of the large-scale NATO exercises, which were to be held from February to April. It was originally planned that 18 countries will take part in the Defender Europe 2020 exercises: 17 NATO states and invited Georgia.

In the current exercises, which will last until June 19, only Polish and American military personnel with a total number of 6 thousand people take part, of which 4 thousand arrived from the United States. The maneuvers also involved 100 tanks, 230 combat vehicles, artillery, rocket systems and aviation.

It is noted that the purpose of the exercises is to test the readiness of American and Polish soldiers for joint actions in the framework of a general military operation. The main element of the maneuvers is the forcing of the water barrier with the participation of tank and landing formations.

According to an expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Sergey Ermakov, Defender Europe 2020 was originally conceived as one of the largest military maneuvers near the Russian borders since the end of the Cold War.

“The United States and NATO should have worked out in practice the mechanisms of practical interaction of all allies, including an important aspect of these exercises that turned to military mobility - the ability to quickly transfer forces to the theater of operations, including heavy military equipment,” the expert noted.

Sergei Ermakov recalled that the maneuvers were to take place in ten countries. The main military equipment was to be provided by the American military. 

“But because of the virus, these exercises were postponed for some time, after which NATO strategists divided the exercises into several smaller ones and made propaganda statements that they were allegedly postponed. In fact, the exercises held in Poland are actually one of the stages of the large Defender Europe 2020 exercises, where the methods of conducting military operations against Russia near its borders will be tested, ”the political scientist emphasized.

Reduced scale

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, NATO had to not only significantly reduce the scale of the Defender Europe 2020 exercises, but also to cancel the maneuvers associated with them. According to their scenario, the NATO countries were to repel a non-nuclear attack and the invasion of the enemy from the East.

To participate in Defender Europe 2020, the United States deployed several thousand units of military equipment to the continent and intended to send at least 20 thousand troops to the region. In total, about 37 thousand military personnel from the countries - members of the alliance were supposed to be involved in the exercises, but on March 12 the European command of the US Armed Forces announced that the American side would reduce the number of its military personnel taking part in maneuvers in Europe.

So, on March 31, the Euronews news channel reported that an American tank battalion had left Lithuania, which had been stationed in Pabrad since the fall of 2019. It was planned that he would join the Defender Europe - 2020 maneuvers, but instead, more than 500 US troops, as well as more than 100 pieces of military equipment, went back to the United States. 

The General Staff of the RF Armed Forces stated that, despite the cancellation of maneuvers due to the epidemiological situation, in Moscow they noted their anti-Russian orientation. In particular, Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoy, chief of the General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate, said this at a press briefing on June 1.

“During these events, it was planned to carry out landing operations in the Baltic states and the Caucasus on the eve of May 9th. This did not happen only because of quarantine measures. Almost all combat training missions were practiced at training grounds located in close proximity to our borders. Objects located on the territory of the Russian Federation are considered as probable targets for defeat, ”the Russian commander emphasized.

In turn, military expert Yuri Knutov notes that even on an abbreviated scale, such exercises by NATO countries are provocative in nature and are aimed at containing Russia.

“This is a cynical anti-Russian provocation, the desire to exert forceful pressure on Russia, primarily Kaliningrad and, accordingly, supposedly demonstrate European solidarity,” the expert emphasized.

However, according to Knutov, in this case it is not European solidarity, but "primarily the dictates of the United States."

Polish foothold

It is no coincidence that the United States conducted the Defender Europe 20 Plus exercises in cooperation with Poland, experts say, since Warsaw has been actively fighting for the right to become the main bridgehead of American troops in Eastern Europe for the past few years.

So, in May 2018, Warsaw proposed to deploy an armored division of the U.S. Army on its territory, taking on the cost of building the necessary infrastructure (about $ 2 billion). However, already in November 2018, Washington rejected these plans, while noting that the military presence in Poland would still be increased.

  • US military in Poland
  • AFP

In June 2019, Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a military cooperation declaration, according to which a squadron of reconnaissance drones MQ-9 Reaper of the U.S. Air Force will be deployed on Polish territory.

In addition, following the signing of the document, Donald Trump said that the United States will increase its military contingent in Poland - another 1,000 troops will be sent to the country. At the same time, the US President emphasized that Warsaw will bear all the costs of building the infrastructure necessary for their deployment.

At the same time, Washington is actively selling American military equipment and weapons to Warsaw under multibillion-dollar contracts, including F-35 fighter jets and Patriot missile defense systems.

“Warsaw turned in the direction of the United States and NATO, therefore, asks the alliance to Washington deploy its military bases on Polish territory, which will contribute to a certain influx of finances from the US military. Poland understands that the country is facing bad times, in an economic sense, so it is now looking for a way out, flirting with the USA, ”the military expert explained.

The United States is pushing its European allies to engage more in military matters to implement a policy of containing and countering Russia, said Sergei Ermakov. And Poland is Washington’s most important ally in Eastern Europe, which always supports American initiatives and even sometimes independently develops new programs to counter our country, the expert is sure.

“Poland intends to become the main bridgehead of the USA in Europe. This is a long-standing consistent policy of the Polish leadership, which is trying to realize its political ambitions, relying on American support. To a greater extent, this applies to the military-political sphere, where Poland is of most interest to the United States, and therefore is one of the key and active players in NATO, defending the course imposed by Washington, ”the political scientist concluded.