Russia demands withdrawal of the US military from large parts of Europe – and threatens to use “military-technical measures”

Russia has asked the US to withdraw its forces from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Baltic States. This emerges from a letter published by the Russian Foreign Ministry. “We are convinced that the national potential in these zones is quite sufficient,” the letter said. Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly called for an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and warned against including Ukraine in the alliance because this would lead to war. In the letter, Russia stressed that it was not planning an attack on Ukraine.

At the same time, Moscow forbade Washington from interfering where Russia was allowed to station troops on its sovereign territory. The movement of Russian forces, including along the Ukrainian border, in no way affects the fundamental interests of the United States.

The Russian letter is the Response to US written response to the security guarantees for Europe demanded by Russia. The letter to the US side includes that as well Offer new talks on security issues in Europe. Russia has again threatened military countermeasures if an agreement on security issues in Europe is not possible.

Russia’s Security Council had described the US military, with its tens of thousands of soldiers and tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, as a threat to Russia. To deter Russia, the United States had stationed its own troops there with a strength of 60,000 soldiers, 200 tanks and 150 combat aircraft. “Your main goal in Europe is to create a permanent threat to our country,” Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Mikhail Popov told the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.


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