With tanks firing and smoke rising from controlled explosions during military drills in Warsaw, 'Visegrad Group' prime ministers on Sunday marked anniversaries of their NATO membership.
Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1999, a decade after the demise of Moscow-backed communism in eastern Europe.
Slovakia joined five years later, expanding the alliance to 26 members alongside other former communist states Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia - despite Moscow's opposition.
Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki, Hungary's Victor Orban, Czech Republic's Andrej Babis and Slovakia's Peter Pellegrini met for a ceremony in Warsaw with the 1st Armoured Brigade, whose soldiers will soon join a NATO mission in Afghanistan.
Polish soldiers simulated an attack on enemy's positions with armoured vehicles, tanks, helicopters, and F-16 fighters flying over.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters