U.S. to open air defense base in Poland. Kremlin: an attempt to contain Russia

Situated in the town of Redzikowo near the Baltic coast, the base has been in the works since the 2000s and Warsaw says it shows Poland's military alliance with Washington remains solid, whoever is in the White House.

"It took a while, but this construction proves the geostrategic resolve of the United States," Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said in a video posted to X on Tuesday.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who has stressed his warm ties with Trump, will attend a function to open the base.

Trump's past criticism has unnerved some NATO members, as he vowed that the United States under his leadership would not defend countries that do not spend enough on defence.

However, Poland says it should have nothing to fear, as the alliance's biggest spender on defence relative to the size of its economy.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday the opening of the Redzikowo base was part of an attempt to contain Russia by moving American military infrastructure closer to its borders.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had objected to plans for the base as far back as the 2000s, when George W. Bush was U.S. president.

He said Putin had insisted at the time the United States was lying when it said the purpose was to intercept potential Iranian missiles.

"This is confirmation that President Putin was right. These plans continue to be implemented. This is the advancement of American military infrastructure on European territory towards our borders," Peskov said.

"This is nothing other than an attempt to contain our military potential and, of course, this leads to the adoption of appropriate measures to ensure parity."

Peskov did not say what measures Russia might take in response.

The U.S. base at Redzikowo is part of a broader NATO missile shield, dubbed "Aegis Ashore", which the alliance says can intercept short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Other key shield elements include a second site in Romania, U.S. navy destroyers based in the Spanish port of Rota and an early-warning radar in Turkey's town of Kurecik.

Military sources told Reuters the system in Poland can now only be used against missiles fired from the Middle East and the radar would need a change in direction to intercept projectiles from Russia, a complex procedure entailing a change of policy.

Polish Defence Minister Władyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Monday the scope of the shield needed to be expanded, which Warsaw would discuss with NATO and the United States.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will meet Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw later on Wednesday.