US to increase Eastern European military presence?
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
14.06.2015 15:13
The United States is mulling putting more troops in Eastern Europe, including Poland, as a response to the escalating crisis in Ukraine.
Photo: WIikimedia Commons
This is a “significant move to deter possible Russian aggression in Europe,” wrote The New York Times.
“The Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries,” the daily quoted American and allied officials as saying.
If approved, the proposal would mark the first time the US has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO members in Eastern Europe since the Cold War.
“This is a very meaningful shift in policy,” James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral and the former supreme allied commander of NATO, told The New York Times.
“It provides a reasonable level of reassurance to jittery allies, although nothing is as good as troops stationed full-time on the ground, of course.”
The US already has a small-to-medium-size military presence in Poland. (rg)