MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2020) The US plans to relocate troops from Germany further east, possibly to Poland, which presents an obvious and unwarranted threat to Russia's security interests, German lawmakers told Sputnik.
On July 29, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that 11,900 military personnel will leave Germany in the coming weeks, which is roughly a third of the 36,000 American troops stationed there. Some 6,400 soldiers would be sent home, while the others will be relocated elsewhere in Europe "in a manner that will strengthen NATO, enhance the deterrence of Russia." The troops, he said, will go to Italy, Belgium and possibly to Poland and the Baltic nations. In addition, "other military units will begin rotational deployments farther east on the continent in more strategic locations, such as near the Black Sea region."
Two days later, the Polish Defense Ministry announced that the country has finished talks on an enhanced defense cooperation deal with the US. According to Warsaw, the US will have a permanent military presence in Poland, as another 1,000 American troops will join the currently rotating contingent of 4,500 soldiers stationed there.
"The intended permanent stationing of US military in Poland, the Baltic States or Romania is an unprovoked but clear threat to legitimate Russian security interests. The stationing of US troops closer to the Russian border also contradicts the NATO-Russia Act and the assurances given to Russia 30 years ago in the context of the 2+4 negotiations [on German reunification]," Alexander Neu, the Die Linke party spokesman in the Bundestag's defense committee, told Sputnik.
The lawmaker also doubted that the US' partial withdrawal from Germany would actually result in the drawdown of troops stationed in Europe.
"I fear that the 'hawks' in the US Congress, both Democratic and Republican, will thwart Mr. Trump. For both share the absurd enemy image of Russia and will probably not allow even an apparent 'weakening' of US troops in Europe," he said.
The shuffling of troops, however, may only further stoke tensions with Russia, instead of containing it, another German lawmaker warns.
"The transfer of troops should not be overestimated. A redistribution of the contingent to other European locations, especially to Poland, may be a clear signal to Russia, but I believe that it is ineffective for increasing deterrence. Instead, the escalation potential increases," Waldemar Herdt, a member of the Bundestag's foreign affairs committee from the Alternative for Germany party, said.
As for NATO itself, he went on, "it will not gain or lose strength" as a result of the troop relocation, because the alliance is now more burdened with internal disputes and in need of reform.
According to Neu, the troop relocation serves US interests in the first place, pushing soldiers closer to an "imagined new battlefield" and giving the country an "advantage in the projection of power."
As pointed out by Herdt, the US long warned Germany that it would move garrisons to Poland unless Berlin increases its NATO spending to 2 percent of the GDP. Now that Washington has acted on the warning means it sent a double message: a disciplinary one to the German politicians and a cautionary one to other NATO allies.
