NATO May Permanently Station Troops in Eastern Europe; Russia Reportedly Removed Troops From Ukrainian Border

NATO Supreme Allied Commander
in Europe Philip Breedlove said that the military alliance may
permanently station troops in Eastern European member countries due
to the perceived threat of further Russian aggression against
Ukraine. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin says
that he has withdrawn troops from Ukraine’s eastern border.

Reuters
reports that when asked about the possibility of a permanent
presence of troops, Breedlove said the strategy “is something we
have to consider” and will be discussed among alliance leaders to
“see where that leads.” He explained further:

We need to look at our responsiveness, our readiness
and then our positioning of forces to be able
to address this new paradigm that we have seen demonstrated
in Crimea and now on the eastern border
of Ukraine…. We are taking measures that should be very
easily discerned as being defensive in nature. This is about
assuring our allies, not provoking Russia, and we are
communicating that at every level.

The U.S., the
largest supplier of both military personnel and funding for
NATO,
recently sent 600 troops throughout Poland, Lithuana, Latvia,
and Estonia to conduct military exercises.

Earlier this week Breedlove speculated about Russian strategy in
the destabilization of Ukraine. “I think the Russians have learned
from what they saw Crimea, how quickly we were able to attack the
false narrative and prove it incorrect; they’re much quicker in
Eastern Ukraine to get the local face on their actions after they
have moved forward,” he
said, referring to Russian troops as “shadow soldiers”
disguised to look like locals.

Putin made a surprising announcement today, though. Regarding
the artillery, planes, and estimated 40,000 soldiers that have been
amassed for months and explicitly
used to threaten an invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin leader

said, “We were told constantly about concerns over our troops
near the Ukrainian border. We have pulled them back. Today they are
not at the Ukrainian border but in places of regular exercises, at
training grounds.” He made the statement after a meeting with the
president of Switzerland, Didier Burkhalter, who is also the head
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe. 

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