Cited by the defense-related US newspaper Defense News, Macierewicz said that Warsaw would be requesting for a rotating battalion-plus sized force of NATO troops to be stationed in Poland at next month's upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw. The troops, the minister said, would be meant to deter any possible 'Russian aggression'.
Indicating that Poland is looking for a "battalion-plus" force, Macierewicz explained that "we have not defined what the 'plus' means when we talk about 'battalion-plus'. This is something that is currently being discussed."
Defense News pointed out that in US military terminology, a battalion consists of 300-800 soldiers.
In any case, the defense minister had also said earlier this week that NATO's plans to station four battalions in Poland and the Baltic states had been finalized, and that only technical details are left to discuss. The minister didn't mince words in indicating that the deployment was aimed against Russia, saying that it was a "measured, proportionate" response to "the prospect of aggressive Russian action."
Cited by Defense News, Macierewicz explained that in the event of 'Russian aggression', the NATO battalion-sized force would look to slow down any hypothetical Russian invasion.
"These are just forward forces that are present, and together with the armies of the host countries should be able to stop the aggression for the time sufficient for the treaty to organize its structures and forces in order to defend its members," Macierewicz said.
"From the military point of view, the problem so far has been that we have almost 100% certainty that in a situation of an aggression, NATO would lose the territory under attack and would have to reconquer it later," he added.
Macierewicz didn't make clear what exactly would cause the Russian leadership to effectively lose its mind and attack Poland, a NATO member, effectively marking the outbreak of World War III, but based on his earlier remarks, the minister's words on NATO deployment were pretty tame.