MOSCOW, June 3 (RIA Novosti) – US President Barack Obama said Tuesday in Warsaw that Washington has a sacrosanct obligation to ensure security of Eastern Europe, reported the New York Times.
“Our commitment to Poland’s security as well as the security of our allies in central and eastern Europe is a cornerstone of our own security and is sacrosanct,” Obama said in the presence of Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski.
The leaders had a meeting with US and Polish pilots of American F-16 fighter jets at Warsaw Chopin Airport.
Earlier it was reported that the American leader would request the Congress to approve a $1 billion plan to boost US military presence in Eastern Europe.
"We are reviewing our force presence in Europe in light of the new security challenges on the continent," according to a White House statement.
On the first day of his visit to Warsaw on Tuesday, Obama said the US were committed to security in Eastern European states, fearful of Russian invasion in light of the Ukrainian crisis.
On Wednesday, Obama will meet with the incoming president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.
The US president is visiting Warsaw to help commemorate the 25th anniversary of free elections in Poland on Wednesday. Leaders of France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania are also expected to attend the celebration.
On June 4, 1989, partially free legislative elections in Communist Poland paved the way for creation of Tadeusz Mazowiecki's cabinet and a transition to democracy. They are called partially because communists were guaranteed 65 percent of the seats in the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament).
