The missiles will be sited less than 100 km from the Russian border Courtesy of Raytheon

After a year of wrangling and uncertainty, the deployment of a US Patriot missile battery
and its accompanying garrison in Poland is expected to occur in early April.

“The Defense Ministry expects the first stage of the stationing of a Patriot air-defense battery and a 100-man service team to get under way in the [northern] town of Morąg at the turn of April,” the PolishPress Agency reported.

The Patriot missiles were originally promised under a missile-shield deal signed between Poland and the administration of George W Bush. President Obamascrapped the plan, but the Polish government fought to hold the US to its promise on thePatriot battery and a deal was guaranteed last December.

Morąg, a town of around 14,000 inhabitants, is less than 100 km from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Despite Polish officials’ insistence that the location has no political or strategic significance, Moscow has previously criticized the decision and threatened to strengthen its naval base in the Kaliningrad Oblast.

However, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told Reuters last week that Russia would do so only if it felt directly threatened. In the past few years, the Kremlin Has repeatedly warned NATO – which includes both the US and Poland – against placing missiles in former Soviet-bloc countries.