US drills in Europe amount to ‘direct confrontation’ with Russia
The four-week military exercise by US land, sea and air forces in Europe is part of Washington’s “steady encroachment” on Russia, says James Henry Fetzer.
The founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth told Press TV in a Monday phone interview that the move “represents a direct confrontation” with Moscow and is “extremely dangerous”.
The US has scaled up the Operation Atlantic Resolve staged from Estonia in the north to Bulgaria in the south since last year to reassure NATO allies of US support in the face of Russian “aggression” in Ukraine.
“We have had, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a steady encroachment by the US and NATO to take eastern bloc nations… and to recruit them into NATO,” said the Madison-based analyst, noting the move is “in violation” of agreements reached between Russia and the United States.
The “extremists, who are acting in such a provocative way, want to have an armed conflict” with Russia, which could take millions of lives.
Alexander Lukashevich, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, has denounced the maneuvers as "an unprecedentedly dangerous step", saying, "It takes F-16 fighters just a few minutes” to reach the major Russian port city of St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea.
Experts say the large-scale war games have essentially put US and Russian forces back in a Cold War-style standoff, warning that a misinterpretation of a move by either side could trigger a major conflict.
Tensions between the Western powers and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, 2014.
The move sparked angry reactions from the US and the European Union, both imposing punitive measures against Moscow.
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