Kremlin warns Polish plans to deploy tanks closer to Belarus would escalate tensions

Russia said reported Polish plans to deploy tanks closer to Belarus border would escalate tensions.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda in September said the NATO member plans to spend more than four percent of its gross domestic product on defense next year amid security concerns over the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

He announced the sum of 137 billion zloty ($33 billion) at the opening of this year’s edition of the region’s biggest trade fair for military equipment, the MSPO in Kielce, Poland.

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“When we see the emerging danger beyond our eastern border … we know perfectly well — history and experience has taught us this — that any price is worth paying to ensure that Poland is free, sovereign, independent and that Poles can live in safety,” Duda said.

“Next year, we plan to spend 137 billion zloty on defense. That is more than four percent of our GDP,” he added, quoted by the Polish news agency PAP.