Poland hopes to receive more US troops, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Saturday, after the Wall Street Journal reported that Washington plans to slash its military presence in Germany.

The newspaper said US President Donald Trump had ordered the Pentagon to cut the number of military personnel in Germany by 9,500 from the current 34,500 permanently assigned there.

Located deep inside what used to be Soviet-dominated eastern Europe, Poland has long regarded the United States as the primary guarantor of its security within the NATO Western defence alliance.

"I really hope that as a result of the many talks we've had and by having shown what a solid NATO partner we are, some of the troops currently stationed in Germany that are being pulled out by the US will indeed end up in Poland," Morawiecki told the commercial RMF radio station.

"The real danger lurks across the eastern border, so moving US troops to (NATO's) eastern flank will be a security boost to all of Europe," he said, adding that "talks are ongoing."

Spooked by resurgent Russia's seizing control of territory in Georgia and Ukraine over the last decade, Poland has campaigned for a permanent US troop presence.

Last year, Trump upped US troop rotations in the EU member of 38 million people to 5,500 personnel.

White House and Pentagon officials declined to confirm or deny the Wall Street Journal story, which comes amid tensions between the Trump administration and European allies over longstanding cooperation agreements.

Washington in particular does not think Germany spends enough for its own defence.

Virus tests, troop distancing at US-Polish wargames
Warsaw (AFP) June 5, 2020 –

Thousands of US and Polish troops launched Friday one of the first big European military exercises since the coronavirus pandemic began, with testing, quarantines and social distancing present and accounted for.

US authorities were forced to suspend the Defender-Europe 20 manoeuvres, originally planned for May, as the pandemic forced lockdowns in the US and Poland, where the scaled-back wargames are now underway.

More than 6,000 soldiers from the two countries, including 4,000 US troops, will participate in the exercises until June 19 at the northern Drawsko Pomorskie military training range.

"All personnel will undergo testing for COVID-19 upon arrival" and have had to undergo quarantine before or after arrival, US Army spokeswoman Beth Clemons said in a statement sent to AFP.

"Cloth face coverings, additional sanitation and other protective measures are strictly enforced" in areas where soldiers cannot abide by social distancing, she added.

"The number of participants was also reduced to allow for increased physical distance," Clemons explained.

Originally planned to be the largest joint US-Europe war games in 25 years, the drills were to have drawn about 37,000 soldiers from 18 NATO countries.

Plans had called for the US-run manoeuvres to be held in Germany, Poland and the Baltic States.

The Pentagon had wanted to send more than 20,000 soldiers to the exercises but the pandemic prompted it to freeze military movement around the world.

The new exercise will feature a Polish airborne operation and a US-Polish division-size river crossing.

Poland has long regarded the United States as the primary guarantor of its security within the NATO Western defence alliance.

US President Donald Trump upped his country's troop rotations in Poland to 5,500 personnel as part of a wider NATO response to concerns in the region triggered by Russia's 2014 annexation of territory from neighbouring Ukraine.