On Tuesday, May 11, during the second day of bilateral talks and the B9 summit, chaired by the President of the Republic of Poland and the President of Romania, the head of the Ministry of National Defense met with soldiers of the Polish Army participating in the "Justice Sword 21" exercise at the Combat Training Center in Smârdan.

Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, together with the presidents of Poland and Romania, watched the execution of the exercise, in which Polish and Romanian soldiers participate together.
The motorized infantry company of the 8th rotation of the Polish Military Contingent in Romania participates in tactical exercises with troops under the command of the Romanian 282nd Battalion Battle Group from the 280 Mechanized Brigade.

The aim of the activities of Polish and Romanian soldiers is, among others, securing the admission of allied reinforcement forces on the territory of an Alliance member state. US and European troops test and demonstrate how quickly they can respond together to the changing situation and the emergence of new threats in Europe.

During the meeting with soldiers at the training ground in Smârdan, the head of the Ministry of National Defense recalled that as part of NATO's forward presence on the eastern flank, a Romanian sub-unit is stationed in the NATO multinational battle group in Poland, and Polish soldiers are part of the NATO multinational battalion in Romania.

Minister Mariusz Błaszczak thanked the soldiers for their service and their contribution to strengthening security on the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance.

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As part of the initiative to strengthen NATO's eastern flank, Poland is a country that both receives a battalion-size battle group on its territory, but also supports another NATO battlegroup established in Romania.

The Polish contingent in Romania, as part of the tailored Forward Presence, is comprised of about 250 soldiers and is equipped with Rosomak APCs, as well as equipment supporting their functioning. The soldiers carry out joint training under the auspices of the Multinational Division South-East.

The decision to initiate both deployments was made at the 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw and was aimed at strengthening the so-called NATO's eastern and southern flanks. International battlegroups have been deployed to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.