Premium
7 min read . Updated: 04 Feb 2022, 12:30 AM IST American soldiers will head to Poland, Germany and Romania in the first major movement of US forces in the standoff
| Listen to this article |
WASHINGTON : President Biden is directing the Pentagon to deploy more than 3,000 American troops to bolster the defense of European allies in the first major movement of US forces in Russia’s military standoff with Ukraine, U.S. officials said.
Mr. Biden is sending roughly 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Poland and Germany this week and repositioning about 1,000 troops that are part of a Germany-based infantry Stryker squadron to Romania, on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastern flank closest to Russia, the officials said.
In addition, the Pentagon expects to make other moves of forces inside Europe, and has ordered several thousand more troops to be on standby to deploy, beyond the 8,500 troops given similar orders last week, the officials said.
In all, the moves are intended to try to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine and avert war in Eastern Europe, the officials said. Along with these moves, the Biden administration is trying to find a diplomatic solution, readying a barrage of economic sanctions should Russia attack and authorizing the transfer of some weapons and other equipment to Ukraine.
Russia on Thursday denounced the U.S. troop deployment to Eastern Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was concerned by the decision and would take appropriate measures to protect Russia’s national security.
“We constantly call on our American counterparts to stop escalating tension on the European continent," Mr. Peskov said. “Unfortunately, the Americans continue to do this. And in this case, we are talking not just about provocative statements that war will come soon [in which] everyone will pay a terrible price. It’s about sending American soldiers to European countries close to our borders."
“Obviously, these are not steps that are aimed at de-escalating tensions, but, on the contrary, these are actions that lead to an increase in this tension," Mr. Peskov added.
He said Russia’s concern is “absolutely understandable, absolutely justified, and any measures taken by Russia to ensure its own security and interests are absolutely just as understandable."
There is no intelligence that indicates that Russian President Vladimir Putin could invade Eastern European countries like Romania or Poland, but as a NATO member, the U.S. has a treaty obligation to provide collective defense to those countries and is using those deployments to send a signal to allies and Mr. Putin. There is no such provision for Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO.
“This is not troops who will go to Ukraine, they are not fighting in Ukraine, this is the United States abiding by our commitments under Article 5 to support and reassure our partners in the region," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, referring to the NATO provision that provides for collective defense of NATO allies.
Mr. Biden signed off on the military proposals after meeting Tuesday with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley, the officials said. Mr. Austin discussed the deployments with his counterparts in Romania, Germany and Poland in the past week.
While a few hundred American military trainers and special-operations forces are inside Ukraine, none of the new forces have been authorized to enter the country, and all of the deployments are expected to be temporary, the officials said.
The forces are expected to deploy in the next few days, the officials said, declining to provide details on their specific missions.
There are about 900 U.S. troops already in Romania, which has agreed in recent days to host French troops as well.
“They are trained and equipped for a variety of missions during this period of elevated risk," said a senior defense official. The deployments also are “meant to deter the threat against the alliance. We are literally willing to put skin in the game."
While there is no evidence that Russia poses an immediate threat to Poland, its increased troop presence in Belarus, near the Polish border, warns of potential threats, said William Courtney, a former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan and a senior fellow at the Rand Corporation.
Of the 2,000 troops deploying, roughly 1,700 are headed to Poland while the remaining 300 are going to Germany, the defense officials said. The German-bound forces likely are there to support U.S. movements since there are no permanent U.S. bases in Eastern Europe, Mr. Courtney said.
“The deployment provides more political reassurance to allies on the eastern flank and in the event of hostilities could help link local troops with U.S. and other NATO forces," Mr. Courtney said.
Some of the new forces could also be used in the event the U.S. military was called upon to help evacuate the roughly 30,000 Americans now living in Ukraine, the official said. Should that be needed, the official said, the troops are unlikely to be sent inside Ukraine to do so and instead would facilitate an evacuation operation by land along the Ukrainian border.
On Tuesday, Mr. Putin accused the U.S. of trying to goad Moscow into war even as he hoped “dialogue will be continued." In a phone call with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, Mr. Putin pointed to what he described as Kyiv’s “chronic sabotage of the Minsk agreements," a 2015 peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and NATO’s unwillingness to adequately respond to Russian concerns, according to a Kremlin readout of their conversation. Biden administration officials have said they don’t think Mr. Putin has made a decision whether to invade, though he could do so in the next few weeks.
Ms. Psaki, who last week indicated a Russian invasion was imminent, said the administration is intentionally no longer using that term because it sends the wrong signal about what Mr. Putin may do. Moscow, she said, could still invade Ukraine “at any time."
Last week, Mr. Austin placed at least 8,500 U.S. troops on “prepare-to-deploy orders," which requires troops to be ready to deploy quickly, in some instances, within hours after being activated.
Since then, that figure has increased by several thousand more troops, the officials said, to more than 12,000. Some of the troops that are being activated to Europe this week are being drawn from that larger number of troops already identified on standby, the officials said.
The preponderance of those forces on standby would contribute to a NATO response force that is being assembled in case Mr. Putin moves ahead with plans to attack Ukraine.
Other American forces, already stationed in Eastern Europe, could be repositioned to NATO nations as part of the overall response to the crisis, which U.S. officials say Mr. Putin has created by conducting a military buildup on three sides of Ukraine.
Russia has denied that it plans to invade, though it said it may have to resort to military measures if its demands that Ukraine not be permitted to join NATO and that the alliance pull back from Eastern Europe aren’t heeded.
Mr. Biden said over the weekend that some American forces could be put on alert to deploy within Eastern Europe, and the Pentagon said on Monday that those deployments were still under consideration. Mr. Biden has said U.S. forces wouldn’t defend Ukraine, but he has promised to support allies.
If the troops on standby are activated, they would deploy to NATO nations in Eastern Europe such as Poland and Lithuania, in logistics, medical, aviation, transportation and other areas, according to defense officials. The Pentagon has said it could also deploy troops to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, with drones.
The U.S. decision to prepare forces is among a series of military adjustments across the alliance. The Netherlands, Spain and Denmark are among the NATO countries that began positioning ships and aircraft in a push to bolster Europe’s eastern flank. Canada said it would extend its training program in Ukraine, using as many as 400 troops, for another three years.
Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, is moving troops and surface-to-air missile systems into Belarus, which borders Ukraine and several NATO members, and has also moved several ships near Ukraine’s shores in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!