U.S. Sends Airborne Infantry to Russian Front Door
Roughly 600 infantry troops from the storied 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team are heading to Poland and the three Baltic states, in the first major movement of U.S. ground troops to Europe since Russia’s incursion into Ukraine earlier this year.
Four companies of roughly 150 soldiers each will head to Poland, as well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and stay for roughly a month, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby. The forces will be relieved by future rotations of airborne infantry troops through at least the end of 2014, if not beyond. Twelve F-16 Fighting Falcon jets and a support staff of roughly 200 people was sent to Poland earlier this year.
Soldiers from the 173rd, based out of Vicenza, Italy, witnessed some of the harshest combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The gritty actions of its 2nd Battalion in the Korengal Valley were documented in the 2010 documentary, “Restrepo.” They will be engaged in “infantry training exercises,” with troops from the four countries, all NATO treaty signatories, according to Kirby.
The Pentagon’s decision is more than just a gesture to reaffirm solidarity with its NATO allies, Kirby said.
“Any time you put troops on the ground ... it’s more than just [symbolism],” he said.
The USS Taylor will also steam into the Black Sea, where the USS Donald Cook remains. The Taylor had been there in February during the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, and had to be retrofitted in a Turkish port after running aground. The Donald Cook made headlines earlier in April when a Russian fighter jet buzzed it. Kirby confirmed there have been no further interaction with Russian forces since.
The deployment of the 173rd will be strictly on a bilateral basis with those four countries, not through a larger NATO action. Concerns have circulated, including through a report from the Atlantic Council, that some other members of NATO are reticent to get involved militarily in action clearly designed to test the Russian resolve.
Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO’s top general and the commander of U.S. European Command, remains in discussions with other NATO leaders over further plans, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said last week.
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“Russian aggression has renewed our resolve to strengthen the NATO alliance,” Hagel said Thursday, while speaking at a press conference with Polish National Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak. The pair hinted troop movements would take place in the coming weeks.
“These measures are not meant to provoke or threaten Russia. Instead, [they are meant] to demonstrate NATO’s continued dedication to collective defense,” he said. “De-escalation has been our focus, and Russia must take steps to make that happen.”
Kirby said Tuesday there will certainly be further announcements of troop exercises and other activity on both a bilateral basis and through NATO writ large.
The front page of Russia’s state news service, RIA Novosti, included nothing of the ongoing tensions in Ukraine, fueled largely by Russian forces operating there, U.S. officials have said. Instead, headlines included reports of Russia’s navy expanding to new bases in the Arctic, new Mig fighter jets to be stationed in Western Russia and new robots to assist in strategic missile defense.
Putin said last week, at roughly the same time as Hagel and Siemoniak’s announcement, that Moscow does not fear any NATO expansion.
“We will choke them all. What are you afraid of?” he said while speaking on his annual live Q&A call-in show. USNews