US sends troops to Europe amid Ukraine crisis
US sends troops to Europe
US President Joe Biden has approved the deployment of 3,000 US troops to Poland, Germany and Romania, the Pentagon has announced. This decision was made in order to support the NATO member countries in Eastern Europe amid the build-up of Russian troops along the border of Ukraine, CNN has reported.
Western leaders and Ukrainian authorities say Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops to Ukraine’s borders, making the Russian invasion of Ukraine possible in the near future.
Russia denies any intention to invade Ukraine but is demanding official “security guarantees” from the US and NATO countries, including guarantees that Ukraine and Georgia will never join NATO.
Washington and Brussels refused to comply with Russia’s demands, nevertheless offering to continue the dialogue.
As a result of negotiations and exchanges of written messages, Russia, on the one side, and the United States and NATO, on the other, have not yet come to an agreement.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that 2,000 troops will be sent from the US to Poland and Germany, and about 1,000 more troops, currently based in Germany, will be transferred to Romania.
This redeployment is a temporary measure, Kirby noted and stressed that “these forces are not going to fight in Ukraine”.
- Georgian Parliament adopts resolution in support of Ukraine – Russia not mentioned
- “Increase the price of aggression” – Who is arming Ukraine for a possible war with Russia?
Kirby also assured that these additional troop movements do not mean that the US believes that Putin has decided to invade Ukraine or any other country, but “if he invades Ukraine, obviously there will be consequences”.
“We want to make sure he knows that any movement against NATO will be met with resistance and that will bring Article Five into play and we will be committed to protecting our allies”, Kirby said.
In addition, another 8,500 US troops have been put on high alert in case the NATO Response Force is called.
US and NATO response to Russia
On February 2, the Spanish El Pais newspaper published two confidential documents containing, according to the publication, the full texts of the US and NATO responses to Russia’s demands to guarantee security in Europe.
The West has rejected the idea of non-expansion of NATO but is ready to refrain from deploying nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe.
It also follows from the documents cited by the Russian independent publication Spektr that Washington is ready to talk with Moscow about mutual restrictions regarding the deployment of missile systems in Ukraine.
The United States considers it possible to conclude an agreement with Russia on security issues of mutual interest. In particular, according to the published documents, the United States is ready to talk with Russia about the control of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles.
At the same time, Washington is calling on Moscow to withdraw troops from the territory of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.
The alleged answer of the North Atlantic Alliance reads: “NATO does not want a confrontation, but will not compromise on issues of principle, in particular, it will not give up the “open door” policy, which does not exclude the future entry of Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance. The Americans take a similar position”.
