Slovakia’s parliament on Tuesday authorized the deployment of NATO foreign troops in the country, Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said.
It will initially be a NATO “Enhanced Forward Presence” unit, made up of some 1,200 troops from the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, Poland and Slovenia.
The deployment will also include a Patriot air defense system, Nad added.
The reinforcements come against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Since in the near future we expect direct military strikes by the Russian Federation against the Uzhgorod airport, which is located (in Ukraine) near the border with the Slovak Republic, this of course has military implications,” he said. Nad, quoted by the TASR agency.
The issue of foreign troops is controversial in Slovakia, a country of 5.4 million people that is a member of the European Union and NATO.