By Anna Koper
WARSAW, May 20 (Reuters) - Poland's defence minister said no decisions have been made to reduce the number of American troops in the country and recent U.S. moves may only temporarily delay their deployment, after meeting U.S. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Christopher Mahoney.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Tuesday a U.S. troop deployment to Poland had been delayed, but that it was not accurate to say the troops were being withdrawn from Europe.
Poland was earlier alarmed by reports the Pentagon had canceled plans to deploy 4,000 U.S troops in the country. Officials tried to reassure Poles that this was not the case.
"Decisions that are made in the U.S. and their consequences may temporarily delay the deployment of U.S. forces to Poland, which is exactly what we said--that there was no decision to reduce them, only a temporary suspension," Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters after meeting Mahoney.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon said it would withdraw 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany, in part due to a widening rift between U.S. President Donald Trump and Europe linked to the Iran conflict.
Poland says its role as a hub for military and other supplies to Ukraine, following Moscow's full-scale invasion, has made it a target for Russian spies gathering intelligence and carrying out acts of sabotage.
The country plans to spend 4.8% of its GDP on defence this year, the highest percentage in NATO, and underlines it has always been a loyal partner to the U.S.
"Poland is a model ally," Kosiniak-Kamysz said, adding it was working together on "plans for the deployment of American forces in Europe."
(Reporting by Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
