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Amid tensions between Russia and Ukraine, US President Joe Biden formally authorized the deployment of additional US troops to Eastern Europe on February 2. Last week, the president announced that he maintains 8,500 soldiers on “maximum alert” to be sent soon.
The United States takes a new step forward in the face of the threat of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.
President Joe Biden formally authorized this February 2 the deployment of more soldiers to Eastern Europe: around 2,000 US soldiers will be sent to Poland and Germany and approximately 1,000 will be transferred from Germany to Romania as a demonstration of support for the Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO), amid tensions between Russia and Ukraine over a possible attack, the Pentagon detailed.
The new troops would be part of the group of 8,500 soldiers that Biden announced, since January 29, that he maintains on “high alert” on US soil to be sent to European territory “in the short term.”
However, Washington and NATO, made up of 30 countries, already have tens of thousands of soldiers in the region that they could turn to.
BREAKING: President Joe Biden is sending about 2,000 troops to Poland and Germany in response to rising Ukraine tensions, a US official says. The move comes amid stalled talks with Russia over its military buildup at Ukraine’s borders. https://t.co/SU8DH7Evog
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 2, 2022
In announcing the movements, the Pentagon’s press secretary, John Kirby, said that they will take place in the coming days and will operate under the command of the United States, but he stressed two points: that they are not “not permanent movements” and that these troops “are not going to fight in the Ukraine.
Biden recently assured that these armies would not be transferred to Ukrainian soil to directly confront Russian troops in case the Kremlin decides to attack its neighboring country, because Ukraine is not part of NATO. However, the alliance prepares and increases its deployments in the area.
Although Kiev is not part of the organization, so article V, which establishes a collective response in the event that a member country suffers an attack, could not be activated, this would not be the first time that the alliance has intervened in territory outside of your responsibility.
NATO has already intervened in Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia. Some political experts agree that the organization could act again in the event of a possible Russian invasion of its former ally from the former Soviet Union.
And the tension has been increasing. Despite diplomatic negotiations and pressure with announcements of strong economic sanctions on Moscow by the US, the UK and the European Union, the Kremlin has already warned that it will not back down. On the contrary, it has continued to accumulate more armed forces in close proximity to Ukrainian soil.
Washington would be willing to negotiate with Moscow
Both Russia and the West put their weapons on the table, while simultaneously attempting a diplomatic way out.
According to documents leaked by Spain’s ‘El País’ newspaper, Washington is willing to discuss with Moscow a promise not to deploy ground-launched missiles or combat forces in Ukraine, if Russia agrees to do the same.
“The United States is willing to discuss reciprocal transparency measures based on conditions and reciprocal commitments from both the United States and Russia to refrain from deploying offensive ground-launched missile systems and standing forces with a combat mission on the territory of Ukraine,” points to the document.
According to the revealed reports, the West is also ready to discuss reciprocal measures to prevent dangerous incidents in the air or at sea, and assure Moscow that there are no Tomahawk cruise missiles stationed in Romania and Poland.
These would be the proposals contained in the written response that the US and NATO delivered to the Russian government last week, in response to the list of demands that Moscow delivered to them on December 17.
After the reply, the Kremlin has insisted that its main demands have been “ignored” by the West. The Russian president asks for guarantees that Kiev will never be admitted to NATO and that in turn the organization will go back to the borders where it was before 1997. That is, before other ex-Soviet states joined the Atlantic alliance , such as Bulgaria and Romania.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has also declared that there was “something” that can be negotiated from the counter offer delivered by the Joe Biden Administration, whose country leads the military alliance.
With Reuters and local media