Polish President Andrzej Duda has confirmed his country's willingness to pay part of the hefty cost associated with the construction of a new US base on Poland's soil.
Speaking to TVP Polonia, Duda said that while "the cost of deploying such a base would be very large," Warsaw was ready to "undertake and finance preparatory activities, and the costs of preparing a place where the Americans could be stationed," with Washington expected to pick up the cost of the base's contents.
"We have long said that we are ready … to assume the financial obligations to prepare such place," Duda reiterated.
"I hope that such a base will appear," Duda stressed, emphasizing that it would be in the interests of both Poland and the United States.
During talks with President Trump in Washington on Tuesday, Duda is believed to have discussed the expansion of US-Polish military cooperation, as conducted negotiations on the possibility of the supply of more US arms to the country.
Trump seemed to favor the base idea, saying that the US was willing to "certainly talk about [it]," given Warsaw's willingness to pay. "The [Polish] president offered us much more than $2 billion … so we're looking at it," he said, speaking to reporters during a joint press conference with Duda.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis said there were still "many" questions surrounding the possible new base and said that the Pentagon was studying the proposal.
Earlier, Polish officials said that a new permanent US base in the Eastern European country would send a "message" to Moscow about Washington's readiness to defend its Eastern European ally. Moscow has repeatedly denied that it has any aggressive intentions toward the NATO alliance and complained about the NATO buildup along Russia's western borders.
Last week, US Army Europe announced that it would be expanding its presence in Germany by 1,500 troops, adding to the 33,000 servicemen already stationed in the country.
