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Obama asks for $3.4bn to fortify NATO’s eastern flank: Report

US military combat vehicles rolled through Narva, a city in eastern Estonia that borders Russia, on the eve of Estonia's Independence Day on February 24, 2015.

The United States plans to deploy more heavy military equipment in Europe to fortify NATO’s eastern flank against Russian “aggression” in the region, according to a report.

The White House has requested a budget of more than $3.4 billion to send additional heavy weapons, armored vehicles and other military equipment to Central and Eastern Europe in 2017, the New York Times reported Monday, citing several US officials.

The deployment will help US and NATO forces to maintain “a full armored combat brigade” in the region at all times, the report said.

It would add between 3,000 and 5,000 rotational soldiers to the US footprint in Europe.

Officials said the plan will send a signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the West is “deeply suspicious of his motives in the region.”

“This is a longer-term response to a changed security environment in Europe. This reflects a new situation, where Russia has become a more difficult actor,” a senior administration official told the Times.

Pentagon officials have named Hungary, Romania and the Baltic states as possible destinations for the increased US funding and deployments.

Lithuanian soldiers inspected a US Army Stryker vehicle last year during an exercise. (New York Times photo)

Evelyn N. Farkas, who until October was the Pentagon’s top policy official on Russia and Ukraine and Eurasia, said the White House plan will certainly upset Moscow.

“This is a really big deal, and the Russians are going to have a cow,” he said. “It’s a huge sign of commitment to deterring Russia, and to strengthening our alliance and our partnership with countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.”

The White House is asking Congress that the funding for Europe come from a separate war-funding account that pays for military operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

“It’s a way to get around the budget caps” imposed on the Pentagon, said Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Harrison, however, noted that the increase in funding may not succeed in reassuring allies in Eastern Europe because the decision about what to do about future military budget in Europe rests with the next US administration.

“If you want to be reassuring to our allies in Europe,” he told the Times, “You’ve got to show you’ve got a future plan.”

Relations between the US and Russia have slipped to their lowest level since the Cold War over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

 


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