President Biden is directing the Pentagon to deploy more than 3,000 American troops to bolster the defense of European allies in the first major movement of U.S. forces in Russia’s military standoff with Ukraine, U.S. officials said.
Mr. Biden is sending roughly 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Poland and Germany this week and repositioning about 1,000 troops that are part of a Germany-based infantry Stryker squadron to Romania, on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastern flank closest to Russia, the officials said.
“These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine. They are not permanent moves. They respond to current conditions,” the official told NBC News. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
The deployment comes as an estimated 100,000 Russian troops equipped with advanced weaponry line Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia and northern border with Belarus, a Moscow ally.
Last month, the Pentagon placed 8,500 U.S. servicemembers on “heightened alert” to deploy to Europe should NATO activate a response force. The troops represent America’s contribution to the 40,000-strong NATO Response Force, or NRF, whose activation requires approval of all 30 NATO members.
A leaked letter published Wednesday by the Spanish newspaper El Pais appeared to show that Western officials had once again refused Putin’s demands to guarantee that Ukraine will never be admitted to NATO, and it called on Russia to “immediately de-escalate the situation” on the Ukrainian border “in a verifiable, timely, and lasting manner.” Biden confirmed last Friday that he planned to move U.S. troops to Eastern Europe and NATO countries “in the near term.”
