“Several foreign nations”including Poland, will send soldiers to help secure the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned from the Ministry of the Armed Forces on Thursday March 28. “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.
The Polish defense minister announced that his country would send military reinforcements to help secure the Olympics, while France is on maximum alert in the face of the threat of attacks.
“The Polish armed forces will join the international coalition set up by France to support the preparation and security of the 2024 Summer Olympics”said, onWladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, without specifying the number of soldiers deployed.
A task force for the Olympics
“A task force made up of our soldiers, including with sniffer dogs, will be deployed in Paris. Its primary objective will be to undertake explosives detection and counter-terrorism operations”added the minister.
According to the spokesperson for the Polish Army General Staff, “the decisions have already been made”. “We are in the process of building a task force for the Olympics”Joanna Klejszmit told AFP, adding that the chief of staff of the French armies, Thierry Burkhard, was visiting Poland on Thursday.
The French government decided last Sunday, immediately after the attack on the Moscow concert hall where 143 people died, to raise the Vigipirate plan to its maximum level, “emergency attack”, four months before the Olympic Games in Paris.