Moscow is closely following announcements in the United States about the relocation of part of the American contingent from Germany to Poland, if necessary, will take all measures to ensure the security of Russia and its allies, it is possible that the United States may violate the Fundamental act of Russia-NATO, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, Trump promised to halve the number of US military personnel in Germany, to 25 thousand people, as Berlin has overdue its payments to NATO. Poland said that it is ready to finance the presence of American troops on its territory and offered the United States to host an American armored division on a permanent basis, taking on the costs-about 1.5-2 billion dollars. Moreover, this proposal was put forward outside the framework of NATO on a bilateral basis. Duda suggested naming the base Fort Trump.
"Of course, we are closely following the announcements that are being made in Washington regarding the possible relocation of part of the American contingent from Germany to Poland," Grushko said.
"Of course, we will look at this not only from the point of view of military consequences for regional security, taking into account the legitimate interests of Russia and our allies, primarily Belarus, but also from the angle of compliance with the fundamental provisions of the NATO-Russia Founding act, which contains the Alliance's obligations to refrain from additional deployment of significant combat forces," the Deputy Foreign Minister said.
According to him, "it is obvious that the US can go to the violation of this international document." "Washington has consistently destroyed all other material bases of military security in Europe by withdrawing from the Treaty on intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, officially notifying the states parties of the withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, and earlier even thwarting the ratification of the agreement on the adaptation of the Treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe," he stressed.
"Therefore, we will closely monitor what the ultimate configuration will acquire the US armed forces in Europe, and if necessary will take all necessary measures to ensure the legitimate interests of defense capability and security of Russia", concluded the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
For his part, the head of the International Committee of the Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, said that the deployment of an additional NATO contingent near the borders of Russia will lead to retaliatory actions on the part of Russia.
"The US President announced his intention to reduce the American military contingent stationed in Germany. In itself, this could be a good signal and confirmation of Washington's readiness to "get along with Russia", as the head of the White House put it. But then the "buts" begin. The problem is where exactly the troops from Germany will go, " the MP wrote on Facebook.
As Trump himself noted, " some will return home, and some will be sent to other places, Poland will become one of them." According to the Senator, this is a completely different story. "One thing – home, another-even closer to our borders, and then the signal is directly opposite to the desire to "get along", said the politician.
According to Kosachev, all these business games around the topic of security would be a purely NATO problem if they did not concern us. "We are not so important to the motives of the actions of Trump himself, as their possible consequences are disturbing. If, as a result, the military presence on our borders increases, this will lead to retaliatory actions, and it will become worse for everyone," the Senator said.
Washington will not lose anything from this, Poland will amuse its ambitions, but in general "we can roll back to the situation before 1997, when there were no agreements between Russia and NATO. And this will be a defeat for the whole of Europe, " the MP wrote.
Kosachev recalled that German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer quite rightly noted that when moving troops to the East, it is necessary to take into account the existence of the "Founding act of Russia – NATO" from 1997, according to which the alliance committed not to deploy its troops along the Russian borders on a permanent basis. "It is important that NATO and its partners remain united and adhere to this agreement, with the provisions of which we agreed" - this is a really serious signal, but I am not sure that it was heard in Washington, " Kosachev said of the German Minister's words.
He believes that Trump is quite sincerely not going to increase tensions in the East, and considers all these games with the troops as a "business project". "Kramp-Karrenbauer has already responded, stating that "NATO is not a trade organization, and security is not a commodity." For Trump, it's a commodity, " the Senator is sure.
He himself, according to the politician, fully understands that there is no real and actual threat to Poland or, especially, to America on the Eastern borders. At least one that could be protected by tens of thousands of military personnel.
"However, he knows that there are enough phobias about the "Russian threat" in Poland, and therefore he is quite willing to "trade" security, saying in particular that the poles will pay for additional troops. Germany is thus " brought up, because it "did not fulfill its obligations" to finance NATO, and in general, they say, asks for protection from Russia, and itself trades with it," the Senator said.
And another story that could be very unpleasant for Poland, he added. "Trump clearly stated that the Poles would pay for the American military in Germany. I suspect that Warsaw had completely other expectations "and to show loyalty, and to earn money." Apparently, it's a bummer, " Kosachev concluded.
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Photo: Creative Commons