How US Pumps Troops and Weapons Into Russia's European Neighbors

Historically, and especially since the beginning of NATO’s eastward expansion in the late 1990s, the United States has exhibited a desire to move its military installations as close to Russia’s borders as possible, along with a contemptuous disregard for any security concerns Moscow might voice over these troop movements.

The United States and Finland signed an agreement that will effectively allow Washington to position more of its troops near Russia’s borders this December 18.

The pact allows the US to maintain its military presence in Finland and grants the US access to some 15 Finnish military bases.

This development, which takes place shortly after Finland became the latest member of the US-led military bloc NATO, comes as Washington seems bent on making sure that NATO member states bordering Russia pose as much of a threat to Moscow as possible.

Mere days before the signing of the US-Finland pact, the United States signed a new defense cooperation agreement with Estonia, a tiny Baltic state that sits on Russia’s western border and which has been a member of NATO since 2004.

The agreement for 2024-2028 covers cooperation between the US and Estonia in areas such as weapon procurement and cyber warfare, with Estonian Undersecretary of Defense Tuuli Duneton mentioning that the pact’s focus is also “on the US military presence” in her country.

This is far from the first defense cooperation agreement the US has signed with Estonia in recent years, as well as signing similar deals with the other two Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania.

Earlier this year the US Department of Defense announced a new Security of Supply Arrangement with Lithuania, under the auspices of which the two countries “commit intent to support one another's priority delivery requests for procurement of critical national defense resources,” according to a statement posted on the DoD official website.

Meanwhile, Latvia signed a deal worth some $105 million to purchase Naval Strike Missile Coastal Defense Systems from the United States, with the US covering 70 percent of the weapons’ costs. These anti-ship missiles have a range of about 200 kilometers and, with Russia now being virtually the only non-NATO country with a presence in the Baltic Sea, it is pretty clear whom these weapons will be aimed at.

In August, the United States also approved the sale of nearly a hundred AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to Poland, another NATO member that shares borders with both Russia’s ally Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The sale had taken place amid a formidable military buildup by Poland which recently sought to procure a large number of weapons from the United States and the US ally South Korea, including main battle tanks, rocket launchers and Patriot air defense systems.