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US soldiers arriving in Poland (February 2022)
Photo: Czarek Sokolowski / dpa
The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is causing fundamental upheavals in the security policies of many western countries.
Now there is a push from the USA that could undermine decades-old practices: the leadership of the US military is in favor of the establishment of permanent US bases in the Eastern European NATO countries.
He would advise setting up permanent bases that could then be used by temporarily deployed US soldiers, Chief of Staff Mark Milley said in the US Congress.
In this way, one enjoys the advantages of a permanent military presence without certain disadvantages such as the need for families to reunite, their housing and the need for schools.
Russia strictly rejects the permanent stationing of NATO combat troops in the Eastern European countries, citing an agreement from the 1990s.
Since the beginning of this year, however, US forces have already significantly expanded their military presence in the eastern NATO states because of the Ukraine conflict - pro forma, however, these are mainly temporary operations, not permanent deployments.
Most recently, Poland had declared that it would also be open to the stationing of US nuclear weapons.
The Eastern European partners, including the states in the Baltic States, Poland and Romania, are "very, very willing" to build and pay for the bases for the US troops, Milley said on Tuesday in a hearing on the defense budget for the coming financial year.
Minister sees decision at NATO
With this one can achieve the deterrent "effect" of a permanent presence, but the soldiers themselves do not have to be sent for "two or three years", but can be replaced after shorter deployments, Milley told the MPs.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin added before the House Armed Services Committee that NATO is in the process of examining how "the region's security architecture will change for the foreseeable future."
If NATO decides to change its presence in Eastern Europe, then the US military would "certainly be a part of it," he said.
It can be assumed that this will be an issue at the NATO summit in June.
The US government's goal is to address the concerns of its eastern partners, particularly those in the Baltics, Austin said.
jok/dpa