The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has approved the sending nearly 3,000 troops to Eastern Europe, in full escalation of tension on the border between Russia and Ukraine. Specifically, the country will send additional troops to Romania, Poland and Germany in the coming days, a move with which the Pentagon wants to demonstrate its willingness to defend its NATO allies.
This was indicated by the spokesman for the US Department of Defense, John Kirby, this Wednesday, during a press conference in which he argued that “the current situation demands” that the United States reinforce “the dissuasive and defensive posture on the eastern flank of NATO”.
“The United States will respond to the growing threat to the security and stability of Europe“, warned Kirby, who has clarified that these troops will not remain permanently deployed in the east of the continent and has clarified that “they will not fight in Ukraine“, but to “ensure the robust defense of our NATO allies.”
Kirby has also explained that this shipment of military personnel is not part of the 8,500 soldiers that the Pentagon put on alert last month to deploy to Europe if necessary. In addition, he does not rule out sending more soldiers. “It is important that we send a strong signal to Mr Putin and, frankly, to the world, that NATO matters to the United States and it matters to our allies,” he said on Wednesday.
The US announcement comes after the Russian president lamented the day before that Moscow’s security “concerns” have been “ignored” by the transatlantic Alliance and Washington. In a press conference from the Kremlin, Putin also warned that if Ukraine joined NATO this could lead to a war for control of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts continue to prevent an outbreak of war in the area. On the same Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation in which Blinken urged Moscow to initiate an “immediate de-escalation” and “withdraw troops and equipment from the borders of Ukraine”. In this regard, Kirby stated on Wednesday that the US does not believe that Putin has made the decision to invade.
Source: Lasexta
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