(ANSA-AFP) - WASHINGTON, FEB 2 - The United States said
Wednesday it was deploying thousands of troops to bolster NATO
forces in eastern Europe, ratcheting up its military response to
fears that Russia could invade Ukraine. Russia has massed than
100,000 troops on Ukraine's borders, and Western leaders have
warned that any incursion into the ex-Soviet nation would be met
with "severe consequences." Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said
1,000 US troops in Germany would deploy to Romania, and 2,000
based in the United States would be sent to Germany and Poland.
"It's important that we send a strong signal to (President
Vladimir) Putin and the world that NATO matters to the United
States," Kirby said, adding "this is not the sum total of the
deterrence actions that we will take." "These forces are not
going to fight in Ukraine," he stressed. "They are not permanent
moves. They respond to current conditions." (ANSA-AFP).
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