- Title: U.S. army seeks to cement Trump's promise to stick by NATO
- Date: 30th January 2017
- Summary: OFFICIALS STANDING FOR U.S. NATIONAL ANTHEM MILITARY BAND PERFORMING U.S. NATIONAL ANTHEM
- Embargoed: 13th February 2017 15:44
- Keywords: NATO Russia buildup military Baltics
- Location: ZAGAN, POLAND
- City: ZAGAN, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Topics: NATO,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002619VBD3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The United States began to spread thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry across Poland and the Baltics on Monday (January 30) as part of a $3.4 billion military strategy to deter Russia that Europe hopes will anchor Washington's commitment to the region.
In the biggest U.S. deployment to Europe since the end of the Cold War, Washington is returning American tanks to Europe to the relief of allies alarmed by U.S. President Donald Trump's comments that the NATO alliance is "obsolete".
The deployments mark the clearest step so far in Trump's pledge to reassure its allies following Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, as well as the broader U.S. shift away from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, back to Europe.
"The full weight of the U.S. military stands behind these sentinels of freedom," Lieutenant General Tim Ray, deputy commander of U.S. European Command, said of the dozens of U.S. soldiers and tanks lined up in the snow, some of which were still painted in desert colours of the Middle East.
The arrival of 3,500 U.S. soldiers, who will be joined by another 1,600 as well as helicopters and aircraft next month, is part of a wider, multinational build-up of NATO nations to eastern Poland and the Baltics that was agreed by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and approved by the last Congress.
U.S. soldiers will also deploy to Bulgaria and Romania.
Trump's continuation of the Obama policy could be a sign that the president will support the U.S. deployments in Europe, even as he seeks better ties with Russia, officials said, and despite campaign criticism of NATO, reiterated in a European newspaper interview on the eve of his presidency.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the U.S. army's top commander in Europe, said the build-up also underlined the reassurance Trump gave to the leaders of Britain, Germany and France in recent days.
"I don't see, and I have not heard, anything that would lead me to think that this could be curtailed," Hodges said standing in front of dozens of tanks lined up in the snow.
"Our president has spoken with Prime Minister May, Bundeskanzlerin Merkel and President Hollande and what I have heard from each of those conversations is the affirmation of the importance of NATO to all of our countries and the United States commitment to NATO," Hodges said of Trump's phone calls and May's trip to Washington.
Britain, Canada and Germany are also sending troops to Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. They are counting on more U.S. troops to Poland under NATO command, backed by air and sea forces, along with smaller contributions from other NATO allies including Norway, the Netherlands and France.
While far fewer than the 300,000 U.S. soldiers deployed to Europe at the height of the Cold War, the renewed presence of American heavy weaponry marks a dramatic change from just three years ago. In 2013, the last U.S. tank left Europe amid U.S. military spending cuts and efforts to improve ties with Russia.
More than a decade of trying to bring Moscow into the international, rules-based order, has soured. NATO says Russia's actions in Crimea, its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and its growing military power have changed its calculations. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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