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Senior officer confirms Czech Republic's participation in EU battlegroup

Xinhua, July 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Czech chief of staff Josef Becvar announced on Friday more than 250 Czech soldiers have joined an European Union Battlegroup under German command in the second half of 2016.

The group will include soldiers from Austria, Croatia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Germany. The battlegroup is comprised of 3,600 soldiers. It could be deployed in military operations within 6,000 kilometres from Brussels.

Czech soldiers also participated an EU Battlegroup formed by Visegrad Group(V4) countries, referring to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. The battlegroup ended its mission on Thursday. Another V4 Battlegroup is being planned for 2019.

The V4 Battlegroup was comprised of 3,700 soldiers from the four countries. Becvar said that Czech contribution was the second biggest after Poland.

The Czech Republic sent more than 700 soldiers, most of whom were logisticians, while about half of the soldiers were from Poland.

The EU Battlegroup is not part of NATO structures, it is a military unit under the European Union leadership. Endit