The Times - UK (2022-02-03)

the times | Thursday February 3 2022 31

Russia has warned that the deployment

of an extra 3,000 US troops to Nato

allies in eastern Europe would stymie

diplomatic efforts to end tensions over

Ukraine and deepen military risks

across the region.

The American soldiers were request-

ed by Romania and Poland, reflecting

nervousness over Russia’s build-up of

more than 100,000 troops around

Ukraine amid no clear intelligence of

President Putin’s plans.

It comes as a leak of the US written

response rejecting Putin’s demands to

rule out Nato membership for Ukraine

also contained calls for Russian troops

to be withdrawn from Georgia and

Moldova.

With the diplomatic talks seemingly

at an impasse, the Pentagon empha-

sised that, under Article Five of its

founding treaty, Nato nations are duty

bound to come to the defence of any

alliance member that is attacked.

The new deployment means that

1,000 troops from an infantry Stryker

squadron based in Germany will be

sent to Romania, joining 900 US troops

already there.

The majority of 2,000 troops being

sent to Europe from Fort Bragg in

North Carolina comprise an infantry

brigade combat team from the 82nd

Airborne Division heading

to Poland while the 18th Airborne

Corps will move a joint taskforce

headquarters of several hundred troops

to Germany.

“These are destructive steps, they in-

crease military tension and narrow the

room for political solutions,” said Alex-

ander Grushko, the Russian deputy

foreign minister.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy head of

the upper house’s foreign affairs com-

mittee, said that the move would “ag-

gravate the situation” and could “pro-

voke both Russia and other European

countries into possible conflicts”. Dzha-

barov said Russia would not engage in

retaliatory “sabre-rattling” but added

that “our gunpowder is always dry”.

John Kirby, the Pentagon spokes-

man, told a briefing yesterday that “the

current situation demands that we

reinforce the deterrent and defensive

posture on Nato’s eastern flank... our

commitment to Nato Article Five re-

mains ironclad.”

Pushed on whether this meant there

was evidence that Russian forces could

move into Nato countries, Kirby added:

“We know that he [Putin] also bristles

about Nato and he has made no secret

of that. We are making it clear that we

are going to be prepared to defend our

Nato allies if it comes to that.

“He clearly is providing himself with

many options, lots more capabilities —

for exactly what purpose, we don’t

know right now. And because we don’t

know exactly what his purpose is, we

want to make sure that we’re ready on

the Nato front to defend our allies.”

Kirby added: “We do not believe con-

flict is inevitable. The US in lockstep

with our allies has offered Russia a path

to de-escalate. But we will take all

prudent measures to ensure our own

security and that of our allies.”

He confirmed the authenticity of an

American letter leaked to El País, the

Spanish newspaper, rejecting Russian

demands and adding a call to pull out of

Moldova, which lies between Romania

and Ukraine, and Georgia, which Putin

invaded in 2008, setting up military

bases in the regions of South Ossetia

and Abkhazia. “It demonstrates public-

ly what we’ve been saying privately” to

the Russians, Kirby said.

“All of [the extra] forces are separate

and in addition to the 8,500 personnel

in the United States on heightened

alert posture announced last week,”

he said.

The force heading to Germany and

Poland “is trained and equipped for a

variety of missions to deter aggression

and to reassure and to defend our allies

... these are not permanent moves,
they respond to current conditions,”
Kirby added.
Josh Hawley, a Republican senator,
tweeted: “Sending more American
troops to Europe is a mistake. We need
to send the opposite signal — that the
crisis in Ukraine shows Europeans
must do more in their own defence.”
Following a spat between Presidents
Zelensky and Biden, the White House is
no longer using the word “imminent” to
describe a potential invasion as it was
sending an “unintended” message, Jen
Psaki, Biden’s spokeswoman, said.

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Page 33

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Page 34

UKRAINE

Kiev

Rechitsa

BLACK SEA

CRIMEA

Odessa Mariupol

BELARUS

LITHUANIA

POLAND

Kaliningrad

LATVIA

RUSSIA

Minsk

Separatist

held area

Klintsy

Klimovo

Soloti

Korenovsk

Belaya

Kalitva

Persianovsky

Rostov-

on-Don

Boguchar

Boyevo

Kursk Pogonov

Pochep

Yelnya

Moscow

Donetsk

Luhansk

50 miles

Volgograd

Donbas region

Nato member ESTONIA

Tanks

Artillery

Other military sites

10,000

5,000

1,000

Russian troop numbers

Opuk

Brestsky

Osipovichi

Albania

Czech Rep

Iceland

Italy

Montenegro

Poland

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

LATVIA

CanadaAdazi

led

On the brink

127,000

Estimated number

of Russian troops

deployed around

Ukraine’s border

POLAND

US led

Croatia

Romania

UK

Nato battle group

Armoured vehicles Tents

1,000 US troops

to be sent from

Vilseck, Germany

to Craiova

(^300) troops to be US ROMANIA
sent to
Germany
Reinforced
by 1,700 extra
troops from
US 82nd
Airborne
Division
Ballistic
missiles
Novoozernoye
Belgium
Czech Rep
Iceland
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
LITHUANIA
Germany
led
1,287 troops
1,031 troops
ESTONIA
UK led
Denmark
France
Iceland
1,166 troops
1,473 troops
Tapa
Adazi
Orzysz
Rukla
defeat sanctions over Ukraine
Russia warns US
that troop build-up
will raise tensions
David Charter Washington
Marc Bennetts Moscow
Russian forces
taking part in a drill
near Moscow and,
below left, a joint
exercise in Belarus
Elite paratroopers go in
The elite 82nd Airborne Division of
the US army, which has to be ready
for deployment anywhere in the
world at 18 hours’ notice, has been
involved in every military conflict
America has known in the past 20
years (Michael Evans writes).
Nearly 2,000 soldiers of the 82nd
are now on their way to Poland to
bolster defences in eastern Europe.
The paratroop division was
formed in 1917 and is based at Fort
Bragg in North Carolina. It was one
of the units sent to Kabul in August
last year to safeguard the airport as
troops and thousands of Afghan
civilians were evacuated.
At the start of the US-led invasion
of Iraq in 2003 it was involved in the
last large-scale combat parachute
operation carried out by the US
military in a conflict.
The 82nd’s motto is “All the Way”.