Doubting Russian exit, NATO looks to bolster defences

BELGIUM, RUSSIA: NATO member countries on Wednesday examined new ways to bolster the defences of nations on the organisation’s eastern flank as Russia’s military buildup around Ukraine fuels one of Europe’s biggest security crises in decades.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his counterparts also plan to weigh the possibility of stationing troops longer-term in southeast Europe, possibly starting later this year.

The troops would mirror the presence of some 5,000 service members that have been stationed in allies Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on a rotating basis in recent years.

The US has started to deploy 5,000 troops to Poland and Romania. Britain is sending hundreds of soldiers to Poland and offering more warships and planes. Germany, the Netherlands and Norway are sending additional troops to Lithuania. Denmark and Spain are providing jets for air policing.

“The fact that we have deployed more NATO troops on the ground, more naval assets, more aircraft, all of that sends a very clear message,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Meanwhile, Russia said on Wednesday that it was returning more troops and weapons to bases, yet another gesture apparently aimed at easing fears it is planning to invade Ukraine, even as the U.S. said the threat of an attack remained.

Russia has massed about 150,000 troops east, north and south of Ukraine, sparking Western concerns it was planning an assault. There have been no indications of a significant withdrawal of those forces, but this week has seen a handful of gestures from Moscow that offered hope that Europe might avoid war following weeks of escalating East-West tensions.

On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing a trainload of armored vehicles moving across a bridge away from Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. It said the movement was part of a return of forces to their permanent bases.

– THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS