(Adds quote from letter, background on sale)
By Mike Stone and Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. congressional Republicans on Monday urged the Pentagon to expedite paperwork for the sale of as many as 250 M1A2 Abrams tanks to Poland in an effort to deter Russia, they said in a letter to Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.
In a letter made public on Monday, three Republicans on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee urged Pentagon leadership to expedite the sale of the weapons "to the maximum extent possible, to help deter Russian aggression."
The letter asked Austin to move the congressional notification process along because of Russia's efforts to "destabilize eastern Europe."
In July https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/poland-buy-250-us-tanks-it-seeks-beef-up-defences-2021-07-14, Poland's defense minister said the country would buy 250 U.S. M1A2 Abrams tanks made by General Dynamics worth around $6 billion.
The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency is responsible for notifying Congress of the foreign military sales. (Reporting by Mike Stone and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Mark Porter)
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