Much to the anger of Russian officials, Poland has welcomed the missiles as means of increasing national security and developing cooperation with the United States.

Poland's former communist-era master Russia has reacted by saying it is unsure why a country located so close to the Russian border would need to destabilise the region by deploying the weapons, especially as Russia has no military infrastructure nearby.

Polish Defence Minister, Bogdan Klich, whose country joined NATO in 1999, has insisted that the missile bank has not been located for strategic reasons, but simply due to NATO requiring a place to position its infrastructure.