Poland wants permanent U.S. military base, willing to pay $2 billion for it -- Russia is pissed

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

Russia threatened retaliation Monday after news that Poland wants a permanent U.S. military base within its borders and is willing to pay up to $2 billion for the facility.

The proposal for an American base touched off a rhetorical firestorm between Moscow and Warsaw, as leaders from both sides traded threats and cast a fresh spotlight on simmering tensions in Eastern Europe.

U.S. officials had no immediate comment on the Polish plan, but Moscow seized the opportunity Monday — on an otherwise quiet Memorial Day in Washington — to push back hard against potential attempts by the Trump administration to bolster the U.S. military presence in the region.

“These expansionist steps, certainly, result in counteractions of the Russian side to balance the parity which is violated every time this way,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

A key Russian senator went further, suggesting Poland would make itself a target if the plan for a permanent American base comes to fruition.

Poland will become “the object of a retaliatory strike,” said Vladimir Dzhabarov, who serves on the Russian Federation