The Washington Post reported today that Pentagon has announced the deployment of 600 US paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne BDE in Vicenza Italy to four eastern European nations bordering Russia and the troubled Ukraine. A company of about 150 paratroopers each will deploy to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Troops will arrive in Poland by Wed and in the Baltic states by Wednesday.
They will conduct month long infantry type exercises in the respective countries and will be replaced on a rotational basis by additional US troops. The deployment is not part of a NATO mission buty a response to these countries requesting the US enhance U.S. military presence inside the region as an additional deterrence to Russia. “Since Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, we have been constantly looking at ways to reassure allies and partners,” stated Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary. Kirby further said, “If there’s a message to Moscow, it is the same exact message, that we take our obligations very, very seriously on the continent of Europe.” He also confirmed, “What we’re after here is a persistent presence.”