Security policy The United States plans more troops in the Baltics, the Estonian Prime Minister says the biggest deterrent against Russia is the American flag

Abroad|Security policy

The United States president Joe Biden is expected to make a decision this week to send additional troops to Eastern Europe and the Baltics. According to an American newspaper The New York Times.

According to unnamed sources in the magazine, Biden has been presented with several alternative action plans on Saturday at Camp David.

According to the newspaper, the alternative is to send at least 1,000 to 5,000 troops. The number could be increased tenfold if the security situation deteriorates further.

However, according to The New York Times, none of the plans, at least for the time being, has included the option of sending troops specifically to Ukraine.

The United States has sent weapons and training aid to Ukraine. From 2014 to the fall of 2021, various aids had been sent to the United States According to the embassy in Kiev totaling just over two billion euros from 2014 onwards.

The United States foreign minister Anthony Blinken confirmed on Sunday that the United States is doing more than just diplomacy.

“While we are committed to diplomacy, we are also focused on building defense, building deterrence,” the television channel Interviewed by CBS Blinken said.

“We’re following both paths at the same time so we can be ready for either. The choice is Vladimir Putin. ”

Increasing the number of U.S. troops and equipment near Russia’s borders is, in effect, exactly what the Russian administration opposed in its December list of demands. Although there has been talk of halting NATO’s expansion to the east, the United States is NATO’s largest and most influential member.

Especially For the Baltic countries, the desire for US support has become even more important this year. Hopes have intensified since Russia earlier in January announced joint military exercises with Belarus and began transporting troops to Belarus. According to Russia, the exercises are scheduled to take place in early February.

Belarus shares a land border with Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine and Russia.

Latvia expressed its hope for the permanent deployment of US troops in Latvia as early as the end of November, shortly before Russia published its list of demands for a tense situation.

“We need more international help. We would like to see a permanent presence of the United States (armed forces) in our country, ”said the Latvian Minister of Defense Artis Pabriks said news agency Reuters in the end of November.

“Air and naval defense would in practice mean systems like the (anti-aircraft missile) Patriot.”

In Estonia U.S. troops are downright required to land. Prime minister Kaja Kallas said a British newspaper on Monday To the Financial Timesthat the best deterrent against Russia is the flag of the United States.

“The biggest deterrent is that you have big friends. If you’re bullied at school, a bully won’t bully you if you have big and strong friends. The same is true of intimidation. The biggest deterrent against Russia is the American flag. ”

Baltic countries are all members of NATO. In them, air surveillance is already carried out by NATO countries in shifts. In Estonia, Britain, supported by Danish and French forces, is currently on surveillance. Latvia is in control, Canada is in Lithuania.

In Latvia, Denmark, which will take over control in March, has already promised more equipment: it will send four extra fighter jets and one extra frigate for maritime surveillance.

Prime Minister Kallas also promised that Estonia would increase the share of its defense budget. NATO expects defense spending to be 2% of GDP – a condition already met by Estonia. There are now plans to increase defense spending to 2.4 percent of GDP.

The United States there have been and are troops in both the Baltics and Poland. However, the deployment of troops is not permanent in nature. In early January, an American TV channel NBC News declinedthat there are an estimated 6,000 U.S. troops in Poland and the Baltics. Most of them, about 4,000, are in Poland.