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6,400 of them will be sent home and 5,600 will be transferred to other countries. This process, which will cost the United States several million dollars, should begin in the coming weeks.
According to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the decision of the leadership of the American forces to withdraw some 12,000 soldiers from Germany. The troops, among other things, will better deter Russia.
“These changes will help us meet key challenges: optimizing the capabilities of the United States and NATO to deter Russia, strengthening NATO, (…) gaining more strategic flexibility,” the Pentagon chief said at a press conference. in Washington.
He noted that the relocation of the US contingent to Europe was a “significant positive and strategic change.”
According to Esper, the main objective is to strengthen NATO’s southern flank in the Black Sea.
The United States is considering sending additional troops to the Baltic states to deter Russia, Esper said.
“We are talking about sending additional forces to Poland, and I think there are opportunities to deploy forces in the Baltic states,” Esper said at a press conference.
He did not provide further details on the possible dispatch of troops to Lithuania.
United States President Donald Trump, accusing Germany of financially benefiting from a US military presence, announced on June 15 his intention to reduce the number of troops deployed in the country.
In late June, the president approved plans to withdraw 9,500 US troops from Germany.
Washington has announced plans to return some of the troops home and deploy others in the former Eastern Bloc states. According to Pentagon officials, this would send a message to Moscow, which demonstrated its military ambitions when it annexed Crimea in 2014.
Some troops will be permanently deployed, but most will be rotated. The Pentagon believes that such a system is more flexible, less predictable and can more easily destabilize Russia’s ambitions.
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