Feb 02,2022:The United States will send nearly 3,000 extra troops to Poland and Romania to reinforce Eastern European Nato allies in the face of what Washington describes as a Russian threat to invade Ukraine, US officials said on Wednesday.
Russia, for its part, signalled it was in no mood for compromise by mocking Britain, calling Prime Minister Boris Johnson “utterly confused” and ridiculing British politicians for their “stupidity and ignorance”.
Moscow has massed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders. It denies any plan to invade its neighbour but says it could take unspecified military measures if its demands are not met, including a promise by NATO never to admit Kyiv.
A Stryker squadron of around 1,000 US service members based in Vilseck, Germany would be sent to Romania, the Pentagon said, while around 1,700 service members, mainly from the 82nd Airborne Division, would deploy from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to Poland. Three hundred other service members will move from Fort Bragg to Germany.
The objective, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said, was to send a “strong signal” to President Vladimir Putin “and frankly, to the world, that NATO matters to the United States and it matters to our allies”.
“We know that he also bristles at NATO, about NATO. He’s made no secret of that. We are making it clear that we’re going to be prepared to defend our NATO allies if it comes to that. Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in a tweet: “Strengthening the US presence in Poland by 1,700 troops is a strong signal of solidarity in response to possible Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
Efforts to reach a diplomatic solution have faltered in recent weeks, with Western countries describing Russia’s main demands as non-starters and Moscow showing no sign of withdrawing them.
Russia’s slurs aimed at Britain, which has staked out a tough position in recent weeks, were caustic even by the Kremlin’s increasingly confrontational standards.
