Russia sent two nuclear-capable long-range bombers to patrol western
Belarus, ally Moscow and neighboring Ukraine to the north, when the first US
troops arrived in Poland.
Russian Tu-22M3 bombers accompanied by Su-30SM fighter jets from the Russian
and Belarusian air forces trained for four hours on the third mission of its
kind last month.
Belarus has grown closer to Russia since the West imposed sanctions on the
country after the 2020 general election, widely deemed rigged, and a
crackdown on peaceful protesters.
On Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko praised the
Russia-led security alliance, saying it demonstrated its ability to spread
rapidly when it sent troops to Kazakhstan last month to stop fuel price
protests that turned violent.
"While they (NATO) are still getting ready to send some troops here, we are
already standing in the English Channel, and they know it," he said,
referring to Western allies, in an interview on Russian state TV. /2/2022).
Lukashenko, however, underestimated the threat of war in Ukraine. "No one is
there to fight us," he said.
US troops arrived at the Rzeszow military base in southeastern Poland, near
its border with Ukraine after US President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered
the deployment of 1,700 troops there. Around 4,000 US troops have been
stationed in Poland on a rotating basis since 2017.
"As announced, the first elements of the brigade battle group of the United
States Army's 82nd Airborne Division have arrived in Poland," a Polish
military spokesman said.
Biden also ordered US troops into Romania and Germany, raising the total
number of additional troops to nearly 3,000.
US Army sources previously said that about 1,700 US military members,
primarily from the 82nd Airborne Division, would be deployed from Fort
Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland in the next few days. The first contingent
of additional US troops arrived in Germany on Friday.
US troops from the 18th Airborne Corps arrived in Wiesbaden, Germany,
according to the US military's European Command, which added that they would
establish a base in Germany to support the 1,700 paratroopers that had been
ordered to deploy to Poland.
The US put another 8,500 US troops on high alert in January to deploy to
Europe if necessary. They remain on high alert and NATO's defense minister
is expected to discuss adding more reinforcements at their next meeting on
February 16-17.
According to a New York Times report, while Russian troops massed along the
border are not yet ready to launch a total invasion of Ukraine, part of its
forces appear to be in the final stages of readiness for military action if
the Kremlin orders it.
Moscow has sent an additional 10,000 troops to the region, the Times said,
in addition to the thousands already deployed to the area.
Meanwhile next week, two leading European leaders are scheduled to travel to
the Russian and Ukrainian capitals to talk with their counterparts about
diplomatic steps to defuse growing tensions around Moscow's potential
invasion of Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron is due in Moscow on Monday and Kiev on
Tuesday. The following week, Olaf Scholz from Germany will visit Kiev on
February 14 and Moscow on February 15.
Macron spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and NATO chief Jens
Stoltenberg on Saturday.
In separate conversations, each agreed with Macron on the need to continue
working to find through dialogue a path to de-escalation and that NATO must
remain united in the face of Russian aggression.
