US Air Force General Tod Walters, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armed Forces of NATO in Europe, proposed increasing the contingent of the alliance's military forces on the eastern border of Europe in connection with the increasing military presence of Russia on the border with Ukraine. Reported by Spiegel.

According to the newspaper, during secret negotiations with the military leadership of the partner countries, Walters proposed to increase the presence of NATO forces in the Baltic countries, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as part of the "Enhanced Forward Presence" (EFP) mission.

At the same time, in Bulgaria and Romania, the alliance will need to create EFP troops of about 1,500 people. These NATO units have been in Poland and the Baltic countries since 2017. According to the general, in the event of an emergency, they will act "as a kind of forward command or a springboard for further strengthening the alliance."

Moscow has repeatedly expressed its concerns about NATO's eastward expansion, including by accepting new members. For example, a member of the Federation Council Alexei Pushkov said earlier that NATO's access to the joint border with Ukraine indicates the preparation of the alliance for a war with Russia. At the same time, the dialogues between the West and Russia, he believes, are "a dialogue for the sake of a dialogue" against the background of which military preparations are being conducted.

On the eve of the Russian Foreign Ministry published a draft agreement between Moscow and Washington on security guarantees and an agreement on security measures for the Russian Federation and NATO member states, which were transferred to the United States on December 15. According to the documents, the parties undertake not to deploy additional armed forces and weapons on the territory of Europe, and the United States - not to create military bases on the territory of countries that were part of the USSR and are not members of NATO.

bbabo.Net