The first troops from a US armoured brigade arrived in Poland on Saturday as part of measures to support NATO's Eastern European flank, according to news agency PAP, dpa reported. The 250 soldiers, who landed in the western Polish city of Wroclaw, are the first of 4,000 soldiers to be stationed in Poland and the Baltic states as part of the US military's Operation Atlantic Resolve. The mission aims at preserving stability in eastern NATO member states in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Former Soviet republics or satellite states such as Poland have expressed anxiety about their powerful neighbour after the events in Crimea. During the first official NATO-Russia talks in more than five months in December, top officials from the military alliance and Moscow were unable to find common ground on the situation in Ukraine when they gathered behind closed doors. NATO plans to send several thousand soldiers to Poland and the Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 2017. The armoured brigade, which will be headquartered in Poland, is set to be deployed to various countries for drills.
