The Aegis Ashore Poland missile defense system at the Redzikowo Naval Support Facility, Poland. (Ashleigh Whitney/US Navy)

WARSAW, Poland — U.S. and Polish officials inaugurated a NATO missile defense base in northern Poland on Wednesday, with Polish officials hailing it as a significant boost to the country’s security as well as the NATO alliance. NATO during the war in neighboring Ukraine. .

The U.S. missile defense base, which is being integrated into NATO defenses, was initially conceived under President George W. Bush as a way to protect Europe from Iranian ballistic threats. Poland, however, has always viewed this as a form of American protection in the event of Russian aggression, fears which have increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has long protested the plan and denounced the base Tuesday as a challenge to its own military potential that would require measures “to ensure parity.”

Polish officials, meeting with the U.S. ambassador and other officials, hailed it as a historic step that reinforces the U.S. commitment to Europe’s security in a period of uncertainty due to the bitter war which takes place nearby. There are also concerns about whether Donald Trump will remain committed to Europe’s security when he returns to the White House in January.

“The whole world will clearly see that this is no longer Russia’s sphere of interest,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the ceremony in Redzikowo. “From the Polish point of view, this is strategically the most important thing.”

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called the opening of the base, which houses hundreds of U.S. Navy troops, “an extraordinary event in the security history of Poland, United States -United and NATO”. He said conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East show the importance of air defense.

“The Redzikowo base means the eternal presence of American and allied troops on the territory of the Republic of Poland and, strategically for Poland, it is one of the most important events in history after 1989,” a- he declared.

The facility is equipped with the US Navy’s modern Aegis Ashore system, capable of detecting, tracking and destroying ballistic missiles in the initial phase of their flight. This is the second land element of Aegis Ashore in Europe following the commissioning of the first installation of this type in Romania in 2016.

Asked about the base at a news conference Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed concerns about U.S. plans even during the Bush administration.

“We then insisted that the Americans claiming that all these plans were aimed at the fleeting Iranian threat were in fact a lie, that all these plans had been developed from the beginning to try to contain our potential militarily,” he said. -he declared.

“This is the advance of American military infrastructure on European territory towards our borders. It is nothing more than an attempt to contain our potential. And of course, this leads to the adoption of appropriate measures to ensure parity,” Peskov added.