- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Pentagon: Presence of US Army in Poland is Purely Defensive

© REUTERS / Kacper PempelA convoy of U.S. troops, a part of NATO's reinforcement of its eastern flank, who are on their way from Germany to Orzysz in northeast Poland, drive through Sulejowek towards a military base in Wesola, near Warsaw, Poland, March 28, 2017
A convoy of U.S. troops, a part of NATO's reinforcement of its eastern flank, who are on their way from Germany to Orzysz in northeast Poland, drive through Sulejowek towards a military base in Wesola, near Warsaw, Poland, March 28, 2017 - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said on Thursday that the deployment by the US Army of a division in Poland has a purely defensive attitude. The Pentagon's statement came after Russian Defense Ministry noted that the "quiet" additional deployment of the US 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team in Poland violates the NATO-Russia Founding Act.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Army's deployment of a division in Poland is purely defensive and anyone who suggests otherwise is wrong, Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told reporters on Thursday.

"Our presence there is defensive. We're very transparent about our presence there," White said when asked about the deployment. "We are in those places in a defensive posture and we are very clear about that, and anyone who sees anything differently would be wrong."

A general view of the table for a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels. File photo - Sputnik International
Russia to Withdraw From NATO Act If US Keeps Boosting Presence in Europe - MP
Earlier on Thursday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that Washington used Western hysteria over the joint Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 drills to "quietly" deploy its 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team in Poland along with its own equipment in Poland near Russia’s border.

The spokesman said the military equipment of the US 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team had not yet been removed, thus creating a de-facto mechanized division near the Russian border in violation of the NATO-Russia Founding Act.

Later in the day a Department of Defense spokesman Johnny Michael told Sputnik that the United States does not plan to build up forces in Europe and does not consider rotating its troops in and out of the continent as a violation of its pact with Russia.

The Pentagon spokesman has argued that "heel-to-toe" rotations occurred every nine months as part of the US collective security commitment to its European allies "in light of Russian aggressive actions in the region."

The incoming ABCT, he said, is still in the process of rotating in. It is made up of some 3,300 personnel and about 1,600 pieces of equipment, including 85 tanks. The outgoing unit arrived in Europe on January and is "transitioning out of the theatre."

"At any given time there are approximately 3,500 rotational ABCT forces deployed for Operation Atlantic Resolve," the Pentagon spokesman said, adding the incoming unit "replaces that of the departing unit not in addition to."

Poland's Defense Minister on Thursday denied that a US Army division had been newly deployed in his country, saying NATO battalions are regularly stationed there.

A convoy of U.S. troops, a part of NATO's reinforcement of its eastern flank, who are on their way from Germany to Orzysz in northeast Poland, drive through Sulejowek towards a military base in Wesola, near Warsaw, Poland, March 28, 2017 - Sputnik International
World
Almost Entire US Division in the Baltic States, Violating Russia-NATO Deal - MoD
But White did not deny that the deployment occurred, and the US European Command on Thursday posted photographs of US Army troops heading to Poland from their barracks in Germany. The European Command said the troops are assigned to 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the US Army.

The chairman of the Russian lower house of parliament's International Affairs Committee, Konstantin Kosachev, said Thursday that the United States had strengthened its military presence in the vicinity of the border because of misguided fears after Russia's Zapad-2017 drills.

Vladimir Shamanov, head of Russia's State Duma Defense Committee, warned on Thursday that Moscow could opt to strengthen its group of Iskander tactical ballistic missiles on its side of the border, including in the Kaliningrad exclave, in response to US actions in the Baltic region.

The Zapad-2017 drills were held on September 14-20 on the territory of Russia and Belarus. The United States and other western countries have repeatedly expressed concerns over the joint drills, saying that Russian troops, deployed in Belarus for the Zapad-2017 exercises, could remain in Belarus after the drills. Russian and Belarusian officials have repeatedly refuted the allegations.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала