Prague, May 30 (CTK) – Several U.S. military convoys will cross the Czech Republic in June and early July with 1600 soldiers riding on 450 vehicles on their way to exercises abroad, Jan Sulc, spokesman for the general staff, told CTK on Tuesday.
In the first convoy on Wednesday and Thursday, about 50 soldiers and 24 vehicles, mostly lorries will go from Germany to Slovakia, Sulc said.
The U.S. soldiers will be arriving in the Czech Republic from Germany via the border crossing in Rozvadov, west Bohemia, and from Poland via the Habartice, north Bohemia, crossing.
They will continue to Slovakia and further to Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. They will take part in the Noble Jump 2017 and Saber Guardian 2017 exercises.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the soldiers will move along motorways and dual carriageways. They will be accompanied by the Czech Military Police, Sulc said.
No meetings with the public are planned, he added.
The Slovak Defence Ministry’s spokesman Peter Gajdos said in April the U.S. soldiers will take part in one of this year’s biggest NATO exercises in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, Saber Guardian 2017, in which 25,000 people will participate.
The soldiers will be returning from the exercise in August.
Four stronger U.S. military convoys crossed the Czech Republic in the past two years.
Mainly the first of them drew attention and NATO opponents criticised it. Eventually, the U.S. soldiers were welcomed by thousands of soldiers during their stop-overs.
