President Joe Biden has formally approved the deployment of 3,000 US troops to Poland, Germany and Romania, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday, in a move to bolster NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries. in Eastern Europe with tens of thousands of Russian troops amassed along the border with Ukraine.
The developments for Eastern Europe, which were reported by the CNNare a show of support for NATO allies who feel threatened by Russia’s military moves near Ukraine and the threat of an invasion, US officials said.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the deployments included about 2,000 troops that would be sent from the United States to Poland and Germany. In addition, approximately 1,000 troops currently stationed in Germany will be redeployed to Romania. Kirby said the measures, which would take place in the coming days, are not permanent and stressed: “These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine.”
The move is the most significant sign yet that the United States is bracing for the prospect of Russian President Vladimir Putin launching an invasion of Ukraine, as Russia has shown no signs of de-escalation after several rounds of diplomatic talks with the US. and NATO.
An official said Biden signed off on the additional troops after a Tuesday morning meeting at the White House with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Matthew Chance of CNN, in an exclusive statement on Wednesday, that “the US does indeed continue to increase tension in Europe”. Peskov said the developments are “the best proof that we, as Russia, have obvious reason to be concerned.”
Biden told Kaitlan Collins of CNN on Wednesday that the decision was “fully consistent” with what the US told Russia during the discussions.
“It is entirely consistent with what I told Putin at the beginning,” Biden said in a brief conversation in the East Room of the White House. “As long as he’s acting aggressively, we’re going to make sure our NATO and Eastern European allies are there and Article 5 is a sacred obligation.”
As the US prepared to send troops to Europe, the White House said Wednesday that it was no longer describing a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine as “imminent”, suggesting the word sent an unintended message.
“I used this once. I think others used it once. And then we stopped using it because I think it sent a message that we didn’t intend to send, which was that we knew that President Putin had made a decision,” White said.
Last week, House press secretary Jen Psaki said an invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops remained “imminent,” a description that sparked anger in Kiev. Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, disagreed, arguing that the descriptions could cause panic and economic turmoil.
A Ukrainian official told the CNN that Kiev welcomed the reinforcement of NATO’s eastern flank, but “expects it to be accompanied by continued supplies of defensive weapons to Ukraine, including sophisticated air defences”.
More US Troops May Be Deployed
Kirby stressed that these additional troop movements do not mean that the US believes Putin has decided to invade Ukraine or any other country, but “if he invades Ukraine, there will obviously be consequences for that.”
“We want to make sure he knows that any move against NATO will be resisted and trigger Article 5, and we will be committed to defending our allies,” Kirby said.
Last week, the US put 8,500 US troops on high alert in case a NATO Response Force is called in and US forces are needed quickly. But the US and NATO already have tens of thousands of other troops in Europe to call on any further deployments to Eastern European allies.
Kirby said the troops being deployed are separated from the 8,500 US troops on high alert. The Pentagon “is not ruling out the possibility that there will be more” US troop movements in the coming days, Kirby said.
The US deployment in Poland consists of about 1,700 soldiers from an infantry brigade combat team of the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There are about 300 soldiers from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, deploying in Germany. And the US is moving a Stryker squad of about 1,000 troops from Germany to Romania, Kirby said.
The troops will operate bilaterally with their host countries, as NATO has not yet activated the multinational response force.
THE CNN reported last week that the US and several allies were in discussions to send thousands more troops to Eastern European NATO countries ahead of any potential Russian invasion of Ukraine as a show of support in the face of Moscow’s continued aggression.
A Latvian diplomat told CNN on Wednesday that Latvia, which borders Russia and Belarus, “is ready and willing to receive more US troops — it has been a long-standing topic of discussion with the Pentagon and these Discussions are still ongoing.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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