SIX hundred US troops are headed for Poland and the three Baltic countries for live-ammunition infantry exercises with armed forces from the four former communist nations.
Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the dispatch of troops from US bases in Italy and Germany for military manoeuvres near Russia’s western border is in response to its aggression in Ukraine.
“If there’s a message to Moscow, it is the exact same message (as delivered before), that we take our obligations very, very seriously,” Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon.
The American troops will be in Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and more American forces could be sent to other NATO nations in the future, “These exercises were conceived and added to the (regular) exercise regime as a result of what’s going on in Ukraine,” Kirby said.
He said the first 600 troops, which will be drawn from the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) headquartered in Italy. They will conduct month-long exercises with about 150 airborne soldiers assigned to each of the four countries.
