Deployment of US troops in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe could lead to increased tensions, Chairman of the State Duma for Defense Andrey Kartapolov said.
The New York Times announced on January 23, citing sources in the American administration, that the President of the USA, Joseph Biden, is considering the deployment of American troops, fighter planes and warships in the Baltic states in Eastern Europe.
According to the paper, the American administration is considering sending “several thousand” American soldiers.
“It is this redeployment of troops and military strengthening that will be the cause of escalating tensions in the region. It is now clear who is interested in escalating the situation and who continues to destabilize it – the United States. For us, this is, of course, an alarming situation,” he said to the journalists.
As he emphasized, Russia will not leave these actions unanswered and will take adequate measures to respond to the growing threats.
It should be reminded that NATO allies put their army on standby today and sent additional ships and fighter planes to their bases in Eastern Europe.
Russia is not giving up on its demands for NATO
As confirmed by the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, Moscow is not changing its demands that it has already made to the West.
“This is our position and that position remains unchanged,” she said, answering questions from journalists. As she stated, Moscow decided to publish the draft agreements submitted by the USA and NATO, because, as she stated, in the past, Russia encountered “fictional stories”, as well as “changes in positions, as well as other nuances”.
It should be reminded that Moscow asked for legally binding guarantees from NATO that the bloc would stop expanding to the east and would return to the 1979 borders.
Asked what that means for Bulgaria and Romania, which joined NATO after 1997, the ministry said Russia wants all foreign equipment and troops to withdraw from those countries, Reuters added.
“It is about the withdrawal of foreign troops, equipment and weapons, as well as other steps aimed at restoring the situation to the circumstances from 1997 in countries that were not NATO members at the time. That includes Bulgaria and Romania,” Lavrov said.
NATO rejected all those requests and sent new weapons and troops to Ukraine.
“Statements full of hysteria”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the probability of the Ukrainian side starting a military conflict in eastern Ukraine is higher than ever, Reuters reports.
Peskov said that Ukraine has deployed a large number of troops near the borders of the region controlled by pro-Russian forces, which, as he stated, indicates that Kiev is preparing to attack them.
On the other hand, Ukraine has repeatedly denied these allegations. Peskov said that the information coming from the West was full of “hysteria” and “permeated with lies”.
Source: https://www.b92.net/eng/news/world.php?dd=24&mm=01&nav_id=112882&yyyy=2022
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