‘US not seeking to build military base in Slovakia’

BRATISLAVA (Sputnik): The United States, which is now negotiating a defense cooperation agreement with Slovakia, has no intention to build a US military base in the central European nation or permanently station its troops there, US Ambassador in Bratislava Adam Sterling said on Monday.

“The United States and Slovakia are negotiating an agreement on defense cooperation… We are not seeking to construct a US military base in Slovakia, and we are not negotiating the permanent presence of US troops in your country [Slovakia],” Sterling said in a video, published on the US Embassy’s official Twitter account.

According to the ambassador, the agreement will allow the US to invest in Slovakia’s military infrastructure, which he said would “support the security of Slovakia and all our NATO allies.”

“Such investments would also likely lead to contracts for Slovak companies and good jobs for Slovak workers,” he added.

Last week, the Slovak Defence Ministry announced it would no longer participate in the negotiations concerning the financial aid as part of the defense cooperation agreement with the United States to modernize Slovakia’s two military airports.

The Slovak Spectator newspaper reported, citing the Defense Ministry spokeswoman, that the sovereignty of Slovakia may be “threatened” if legal conditions for the activities of foreign armed forces in Slovakia for an unlimited time were created.

However, the Slovak Foreign Ministry reportedly said Bratislava and Washington were not discussing the permanent presence of US soldiers in Slovakia, which has been a member of NATO since 2004.