Russia: If US would stationing heavy weapons in Eastern Europe, we will be forced to appropriate countermeasures

Source : http://www.rtdeutsch.com

The supreme General of the Russian Armed Forces Yuri Jabukow has announced that, if the United States would, as announced stationing heavy weapons in Eastern Europe, Russia react appropriately and its military presence will continue to expand on the western border as well. There would be no binding obligations which would prohibit Russia to strengthen its own armed forces in the western part of the country.

Should the US heavy weapons, whether tanks, artillery systems or other military hardware embarrassed the Baltic states or Eastern Europe, this would be "the most aggressive step the Pentagon and NATO since the end of the Cold War before a quarter of a century," said Jabukow compared to Interfax.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned the US and its European allies against "dangerous consequences" that would have an increase in the presence near the Russian border. It was hoped that the situation in Europe could be preserved in the direction of a new military confrontation before another slide, it said in a statement.

The stationing of heavy weapons along the eastern borders of NATO would violate crucial content of the basic treaty between Russia and NATO in 1997. There, the Western alliance had undertaken not to station substantial combat units permanently in Eastern European member states.

"In fact, many believe both in Washington and in European capitals that the so-called 'Russian threat' is nothing but a myth", it said in the statement. "It is common, such as the United States practiced this here to use propaganda to divert attention from their own responsibility for the unconstitutional coup in Ukraine and the misdeeds of the regime in Kiev, which is unwilling to end the fratricide in the Donbass. "

It is to be feared that the US military strategy in the "eastern" NATO completely lose touch with reality and the political interests of the European people, it is said in the statement of Defence on.

The comments came in response to an article in the New York Times on Saturday, which states:

"In an important step to prevent a possible Russian aggression in Europe, the Pentagon is determined to battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons to station 5 for # 000 American soldiers in some of the Baltic and Eastern European countries."

January Oberg, director of the Transnational Association for Peace and Future Research, explained that those who would be responsible for such decisions, have simply no idea:

"I think what we see here, is conflict-illiteracy. He said that the people who decide such things - especially in the US, but also at NATO headquarters and in the foreign and defense ministries in Europe - no idea of ​​negotiation processes, conflict resolution, confidence-building and all other things, we have means of which had worked during the first Cold War. "

Russia says will retaliate if US weapons stationed on its borders

Source : http://mobile.reuters.com

A plan by Washington to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO states on Russia's border would be the most aggressive U.S. act since the Cold War, and Moscow would retaliate by beefing up its own forces, a Russian defense official said on Monday.

The United States is offering to store military equipment on allies' territory in eastern Europe, a proposal aimed at reassuring governments worried that after the conflict in Ukraine, they could be the Kremlin's next target.

Poland and the Baltic states, where officials say privately they have been frustrated the NATO alliance has not taken more decisive steps to deter Russia, welcomed the decision by Washington to take the lead.

But others in the region were more cautious, fearing their countries could be caught in the middle of a new arms race between Russia and the United States.

"If heavy U.S. military equipment, including tanks, artillery batteries and other equipment really does turn up in countries in eastern Europe and the Baltics, that will be the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War," Russian defense ministry official General Yuri Yakubov said.

"Russia will have no option but to build up its forces and resources on the Western strategic front," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

He said the Russian response was likely to include speeding up the deployment of Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania, and beefing up Russian forces in ex-Soviet Belarus.

"Our hands are completely free to organize retaliatory steps to strengthen our Western frontiers," Yakubov said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said: "We hope that reason will prevail and the situation in Europe will be prevented from sliding into a new military confrontation which may have dangerous consequences."

ALLIED ARMY

The Pentagon said on Monday the U.S. military was in the process of deciding where to store a battalion's worth of military equipment in Europe. The decision is part of a long-term effort to maintain equipment for a heavy brigade in the region to facilitate U.S. rotational training with NATO allies.

"This is purely positioning of equipment to better facilitate our ability to conduct training," said Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, noting that two battalions of equipment already was stored there.

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, told Reuters in December the equipment set for the full brigade would be about 160 M-1 tanks plus M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles and self-propelled howitzers. A Pentagon official said on Monday the total number of vehicles would be about 220.

U.S. officials said a proposal under review envisages storing a company's worth of equipment, enough for 150 soldiers, in each of the three Baltic nations: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Enough equipment for a company or possibly a battalion, or about 750 soldiers, would also be located in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary.

The idea was that, in the event of an attack on NATO's eastern border, the United States could quickly fly in troops who would use the equipment, cutting out the weeks or months it would take to transport convoys of gear overland across Europe.

However, the U.S. proposal could cause tensions within NATO, an alliance that often struggles to accommodate more hawkish members such as Poland or Lithuania alongside other states that want to avoid a military stand-off with Russia at any cost.

Speaking after talks in Warsaw with the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said he expected a final U.S. decision on the equipment within a few weeks.

"They know how important this is to us, because we want to build a permanent U.S. presence, the allied army here on the Polish territory," Siemoniak told reporters.

"It seems to me that such enterprises, that is equipment warehouses, are a very crucial step when it comes to building such a presence."

A spokesman for Lithuania's foreign ministry, Kestutis Vaskelevicius, said any increased NATO presence was intended to improve the security of the Baltic states. "(It) is not directed against anyone, and it does not threaten anyone," he said.

 

TWO-SPEED NATO

Since Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula and a rebellion by Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states - countries with a history of Russian occupation - have pushed NATO for a muscular response.

But proposals for a permanent NATO combat presence in eastern Europe were blocked by Germany and some other alliance members. Instead, NATO intensified exercises, rotating troops through the region and set up a command headquarters for a rapid reaction force in north-west Poland.

Sources close to the government in Poland, and other states in the region, said that response persuaded them they could not fully rely on NATO, and that their best bet in the event of an attack was that the U.S. military would come to their aid.

At a NATO summit in Wales last year, agreement was reached on "pre-positioning" military equipment in eastern Europe, but the Pentagon's plan appeared to go further and faster than measures envisaged by the alliance.

The initiative could force some former Warsaw Pact countries now in NATO to make uncomfortable choices.

Bulgaria and Hungary both say they are committed members of the alliance, but they have maintained close cultural and commercial ties to Moscow, and may not want to jeopardize those links by storing U.S. military equipment on their soil.

Rosen Plevneliev, the Bulgarian President, said it was too early to say if his country would join the Pentagon's initiative.

"At the current moment there is no proposal whatsoever to the Bulgarian government upon which we can start discussions," he said.

Poland, Lithuania discussing plans with Washington to harbor US army equipment

Via : http://www.strategic-culture.org

Warsaw and Vilnius are in talks with Washington about the permanent stationing of US army equipment warehouses, officials from the two countries said. Heavy weapons may be stored in the Baltic States, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary.

The Polish Defense Ministry tweeted that during his recent visit to Washington Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak was given assurances that a final decision on stationing the warehouses would be taken shortly.

Citing US and allied officials, the New York Times reported on Saturday that heavy equipment would be stored in each of the three Baltic nations: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, plus some Eastern European countries - Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary.

The Pentagon's far-reaching proposal requires approval from Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and the White House. Should the move be given the go-ahead, it would be the first deployment of military hardware in Europe since the end of the Cold War 25 years ago. The plan falls short of a permanent boots-on-the-ground presence.

When NATO initially expanded into the Baltic States in 2004, permanent stationing of equipment and troops in these countries wasn’t undertaken - a mark of respect to Russia’s interests. But with the unfolding Ukraine crisis, NATO and Washington began to bolster forces in the region, openly sending a message to Moscow that NATO will defend its alliance members.

“This is a very meaningful shift in policy. It provides a reasonable level of reassurance to jittery allies, although nothing is as good as troops stationed full-time on the ground, of course,” James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral and the former supreme allied commander of NATO, now dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, told the New York Times.

According to the newspaper, the Pentagon is "poised to store" battle tanks, infantry vehicles and other heavy weapons for 5,000 American troops in the Baltic and Eastern European states. The stocks, planned to be stored on allied bases, would be reportedly the same as the Pentagon kept in Kuwait for over a decade after the 1990 US invasion of Iraq.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas also told Reuters on Sunday that Vilnius is getting ready to host heavy US military equipment. Talks are underway with Washington on a permanent location for the arms.

"We think that at least part of it [Abrams and Bradleys] will be in Lithuania and we are in the process of preparing our military infrastructure, so it can be used for such pre-positioning. It is almost ready," Olekas said.

"We have been in talks with our American allies about locating equipment here on a permanent basis, in order to increase our security and support the soldiers stationed here," he added.

"If the decision is taken, it will be very positive for our security," Olekas concluded.

Estonia’s Defense Minister Sven Mikser has said the US proposal will be discussed with NATO countries on June 24-25, the Delfi news portal reports.

Since Crimea’s reunion with Russia, concerns have been growing in Moscow over a sharp increase in the intensity of the training of NATO troops along Russia’s border. Since the outbreak of the military conflict in eastern Ukraine, NATO forces have stepped up military drills in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe.

Around 50 vessels from 17 countries, involving some 5,600 troops, are currently taking part in the US-led BALTOPS exercise in the Baltic Sea. NATO member states, such as Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Turkey, the UK and the US have sent naval forces to take part in the drill. They were also joined by three NATO partners – Finland and Sweden, which both have access to the Baltic Sea, and also Georgia. The show-off of anti-submarine warfare, air defense, interception of suspect vessels and amphibious landings runs through June 20.

The head of the Main Operation Directorate of General Staff, Lieutenant General Andrey Kartapolov, said in April that the intensity of NATO’s operational and combat training activities grew by as much as 80 percent in 2014, with bombers from the US Air Force performing strategic tasks during their military exercises. Russia has also increased the number of flights of its long-range ‘Bear’ Tupolev-95 bombers near NATO members’ air space, as well as carrying out large-scale drills on its own territory.

US Deploys Heavy Weaponry in Europe; Russia to 'Answer Adequately'

Source : http://sputniknews.com

Russia will provide an ‘adequate answer’ to the deployment of the US heavy weaponry in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, a senior Defense Ministry official said on Monday, commenting on earlier claims that the Pentagon is poised to station battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weaponry in several Eastern European countries.

“In case the US heavy weaponry, including battle tanks, artillery systems and other combat weaponry is going to be deployed in a number of Eastern European countries and the Baltics, it is going to be the most aggressive step of Pentagon and NATO since the end of the last century's Cold War,” the Russian media quoted Yuri Yakubov, the Coordinator of the Department of the General Inspectors of the Russian Defense Ministry, as saying.

“And there will be nothing left for Russia but to build up its might and means at strategic western locations,” added the senior Defense Ministry official.

Russia will commence by reinforcing its military along the perimeter of its Western border, including new tank, artillery and aviation units.

The Russian Ground Forces’ guided missile brigade stationed in the westernmost Kaliningrad region will be promptly reequipped with the Iskander-M ballistic missile systems, Yakubov added, and Russia’s combined forces in Belarus will also be considerably reequipped.

The announcement comes as a comment following US media speculation that “the Pentagon is poised to deploy battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for up to 5,000 US troops in Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries.”

As the media put it, "a company's worth of equipment — enough for about 150 soldiers — would be stored in each of the three Baltic nations: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Enough for a company or possibly a battalion — about 750 soldiers — would be located in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary".

The senior Defense Ministry official however stressed that Russia has completely withdrawn from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and won’t be bound by any lateral restrictions, as it was earlier, on the number of tanks, aircraft or artillery systems it was allowed to have in its near-border territories.

“We have completely withdrawn from this treaty which many European countries have not stuck to and we have a free hand in organizing responsive measures and strengthening our western borders,” he said.

The Kremlin so far has not commented on the issue.

“There was no official announcement from the US, therefore I have nothing to say. We will comment when there is any,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday