U.S. will send battle-ready troops and tanks to border with Russia
Battle-ready American soldiers will soon be permanently positioned along Russia's western borders.
In a move not seen since the Cold War, the Pentagon plans to send U.S. troops with heavy artillery to Eastern Europe to bolster the defenses of its NATO allies and send a message to an increasingly aggressive Moscow: back off.
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General Philip Breedlove, the top U.S. commander in Europe, announced the move Wednesday, saying it demonstrates a "strong and balanced approach to reassuring our NATO Allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere."
It means about 4,500 U.S. troops along with 250 tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Paladin self-propelled howitzers and more than 1,700 additional military vehicles would be on the ground in six countries by next February.
The move marks an escalation of a proposal announced last year, when it said it was considering ways to increase America's military present in Eastern Europe to deter Russia.
4,500 U.S. troops along with 250 tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Paladin self-propelled howitzers and more than 1,700 additional military vehicles will be on the ground in the region by next February.
It also gives more details to budget proposals disclosed in February that quadrupled military aid and outlined more frequent rotations of troops into Europe, where they would have used older training equipment pre-positioned there.
The decision comes at a time of heightening tensions between Moscow and the West. Russia's military actions in Ukraine since its stealthy March 2014 annexation of Crimea, and its several recent large-scale military exercises along its western borders has put Eastern European nations on edge.
The most recent sign of tension came Tuesday, when the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin would boycott the Nuclear Safety Summit in Washington this week due to a lack of coordination with Western governments.
Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes called Putin's decision not to participate "a missed opportunity for Russia above all" that would only leads to the country's further isolation.
Where the military equipment will be positioned
The troops and military equipment will be spread across Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.
The estimated 4,500 troops and military equipment are expected to be spread across Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. The materiel could also be moved around the region for training and military exercises.
U.S. Army officials have said they would send additional communications equipment to Europe so that headquarters units could have the radios, computers and other equipment needed to work with the brigades, The Associated Press reported.
In February, the Pentagon requested $3.4 billion from the $583 billion in the 2017 defense budget to increase troop rotations and military exercises in Europe, essentially calling for the constant presence of a third brigade in Europe. Two are already permanently stationed in Europe, according to the AP. This new brigade will rotate in and out on a continual basis.
Congress still has to approve the request.
The 2016 budget included about $780 million for the so-called European reassurance initiative, which covered the costs of sending hundreds of U.S. troops in and out of Europe for short deployments, military exercises and other training missions.
It also set aside funds for the Navy to reopen and upgrade a Cold War-era aircraft hangar in Keflavik, Iceland for planes used to hunt Russian submarines.
Under the new plan, the older American gear that was going to be pre-positioned in Eastern Europe will now be moved to a U.S. depot in Germany for refurbishing before being sent to bases in Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.
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Christopher is Mashable's Senior Correspondent covering world news, particularly the post-Soviet space and especially Ukraine, where he lived and worked for more than five years. As an editor at Ukraine's Kyiv Post newspaper, Christopher was part of the team that won the 2014 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism for coverage of the Euromaidan Revolution, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine. Besides Mashable, he has published with The Telegraph, The Times, The Independent and GlobalPost from such countries as Greece, Italy, Israel, Russia and Turkey, among others, as well as from aboard a search and rescue ship off the Libyan coast. Originally from rainy Portland, Oregon, he is also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine) currently based in New York.
