The French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced that several countries would send soldiers to help with security during the Paris Olympic Games scheduled for July 26 to August 11.
“Several foreign nations” including Poland will send soldiers to help secure the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, while France is on maximum alert in the face of the threat of attacks, AFP learned Thursday from the French ministry armies. “Several foreign nations will strengthen us in certain critical areas, such as dog capabilities, where the needs are enormous” during the Olympics, according to the ministry.
Sniffer dogs and soldiers
This practice is common, recalls this source. Thus, French gendarmes participated in securing the sites during the Football World Cup in Qatar. The Polish Defense Minister announced earlier Thursday that his country would send military reinforcements to help secure the Olympic Games in Paris, without specifying the number of soldiers.
“A task force composed of our soldiers, including with sniffer dogs, will be deployed to Paris. Its main objective will be to undertake explosive detection and counter-terrorism operations,” said on the social network Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz.
The French government decided last Sunday, immediately after the attack on the concert hall near Moscow where 143 people died, to raise the Vigipirate security plan to its maximum level, “emergency attack”, four months before the Olympic Games in Paris. According to the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, 18,000 French soldiers will be available for the Olympics, including 3,000 aviators responsible for aerial surveillance.