Russia warns against US arms buildup in Europe
MOSCOW: Russia would swiftly respond to any moves by the United States to build up military resources in Eastern Europe by fortifying its western border with more troops, tanks, planes and missile systems, a defence official told the Russian press on Monday. The Pentagon is considering plans to store heavy weaponry, tanks and other vehicles in the Baltics, U.S. officials said Saturday . If that happens, Russia would view the move as the most aggressive step since the Cold War, Russian army Gen. Yury Yakubov told the Russian news service Interfax. Yakubov said Russian forces along the entire perimeter of Russias western border will be reinforced as soon as Russia notes the buildup of any American heavy military equipment in the Baltics or Eastern Europe. U.S. officials said the proposal, if approved, would put extra weapons and vehicles in countries that might include Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, according to The Washington Post. In that case, Russia wont have anything else to do but bolster its forces and resources on the western strategic theatre of operations, Yakubov said.
Plans to fortify military resources in Eastern Europe have yet to get the green light from Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, U.S. officials said. Such an approval would be historic: The United States has not sent heavy weapons to the NATO states that were once Soviet republics since they gained independence at the close of the Cold War. The Baltics joined NATO in 2004, along with former Iron Curtain satellite states Romania and Bulgaria, while Poland and Hungary became member states in 1999. Some of those governments have been urging NATO to build up its resources in the area in light of Russias recent annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-Russian separatists fighting government troops in eastern Ukraine.
