US, Britain to place troops in Poland, Romania as tension with Russia rises

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. October 27, 2016, 12:31 PM (IDT)

Representatives of the US and Britain attending a meeting of defense ministers from NATO member states in Brussels on Thursday announced that their countries will deploy fighter planes, infantry, tanks and artillery to Romania and Poland. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said that 800 of his country’s infantrymen are to be placed in Estonia and that a squadron of Typhoon fighters will be sent to Romania to patrol the area of the Black Sea. Canada and Germany announced their support for building the largest Western military force in Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. The growing tensions between Russia and the West were evident on Wednesday when two Russian warships armed with cruise missiles entered the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Denmark on their way to the Middle East. They will join the Russian naval force operating off the Syrian coast including 10 warships such as the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the placement of forces in Eastern Europe is a “measured response” to the 300,000 Russian soldiers stationed in western Russia. He added that this month Russia deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles, which can hit the Baltic States and Poland, to Kaliningrad.

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