Joe Biden orders forces to Europe amid stalled Ukraine talks
India Today
Amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden is ordering 2,000 US-based troops to Poland and Germany and shifting 1,000 more from Germany to Romania.
President Joe Biden is ordering 2,000 US-based troops to Poland and Germany and shifting 1,000 more from Germany to Romania, demonstrating to both allies and foes America's commitment to NATO's eastern flank amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Russia fired back with a sharply worded objection, calling the deployments unfounded and “destructive.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also had a new telephone exchange with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But readouts from both governments showed no progress, with Putin saying the West was giving no ground on Russia's security concerns and Johnson expressing deep concern about Russia's “hostile activity” on the Ukrainian border, referring to Putin's buildup of 100,000 troops there.
The Biden administration is aiming to demonstrate US resolve without undermining efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Biden notably has not sent military reinforcements to the three Baltic countries on NATO's eastern flank — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — that are former states of the Soviet Union.
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No US troops are being sent to Ukraine, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday said the administration has stopped calling a Russian invasion “imminent,” because that word implies Washington knows Putin has made a decision to invade. Officials say Putin's intentions remain unclear.
However, increasing US troop levels in Eastern Europe is exactly what Putin has said he finds intolerable, along with the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO. The US already has several thousand troops in Poland, and Romania is host to a NATO missile defense system that Russia considers a threat. The US presence in the region has increased since 2014 when Russia made its first invasion of Ukraine.
