The Pentagon announced on Feb. 2 that it would deploy 3,000 troops to Romania and Poland within days in response to Russia’s unwillingness to de-escalate its vast military build-up on Ukraine’s eastern border.
The 3,000 troops to be deployed are in addition to the 8,500 troops that U.S. President Joe Biden ordered on high alert last week.
A highly mobile “Stryker Squadron” of 1,000 U.S. cavalry troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy from Germany to Romania, while Poland will receive the majority of 2,000 U.S. infantry troops from the 18th Airborne Division stationed at Fort Bragg in the U.S., with a smaller number deploying to Germany.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the reason behind the Pentagon’s decision was to “deter aggression and buttress our front line forces.”
“Putin continues to destabilize the region by building forces on Russia’s western border and in Belarus,” Kirby explained. “Because we don’t know his purpose, we want to be prepared on the NATO front.”
Kirby underscored that no troops would be deployed to Ukraine, but would not exclude the possibility that they could be used to provide evacuation support or humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in the event of a Russian attack.
Kirby also emphasized that the troop movements were not permanent, but also added that the Pentagon may well make additional similar announcements.
The Pentagon spokesman noted that the decision came after consultations with NATO and approval by the governments of Romania and Poland.
He said that France has also agreed to deploy its troops to Romania, and that the United Kingdom and Denmark may well follow with their own military deployments to countries on NATO’s eastern flank.
