US President Joe Biden is considering the deployment of several thousand US troops, as well as warships and aircraft in NATO allies in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe, thus expanding US military involvement amid growing fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to employees of his administration, writes The New York Times.
This move will signal a major turnaround for the Biden administration, which until recently held a restrained stance on Ukraine for fear of provoking Russia. But after Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped up his threatening actions against Ukraine and talks between US and Russian officials failed to discourage him, the administration is now beginning to abandon its "Do Not Provoke" strategy.
At a meeting Saturday at Camp David, the Maryland presidential mansion, senior Pentagon officials presented Biden with several options that could move US forces much closer to Russia, officials said. Options include sending 1,000 to 5,000 troops to Eastern European countries, with the potential to increase that number tenfold if things get worse.
This information was shared on condition of anonymity, as employees were not authorized to speak publicly about the discussion.
"Even while we're involved in diplomacy, we're very focused on building defense, building deterrence," Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in an interview with CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday. "NATO will continue to be significantly strengthened if Russia commits acts of aggression. It's all on the table. "
So far, none of the military options under consideration include the deployment of additional US troops in Ukraine itself, and Biden has indicated that he does not want to enter a new conflict after America's painful exit from Afghanistan last summer after 20 years of conflict.
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