Washington believes that Moscow allegedly has no reason to consider any changes in the alignment of NATO forces on the eastern flank as a provocation.

This was stated by the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council at the White House, John Kirby.

“Mr. Putin has no reason to consider any change in the alignment of NATO forces on the eastern flank as a provocation.

NATO is, will be and always has been a defensive alliance.

The reason we are forced to act this way is because Mr. Putin has a destabilizing influence on the continent,” Kirby said in an interview with Bloomberg.

So he answered the journalist’s question whether the Russian leader would regard the strengthening of the eastern flank of the bloc as a provocation from NATO, including through the creation of a new headquarters of the 5th US Army Corps in Poland.

Earlier, the head of the White House, Joe Biden, announced the formation of such a headquarters during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

“In Poland, we intend to establish a permanent headquarters for the US 5th Army Corps and strengthen the interoperability of US and NATO forces along the entire eastern flank,” the American leader said.

He also revealed that the United States plans to increase its rotational deployment to the Baltic states as well as to Romania.

“We are going to maintain an additional 3,000-strong rotational brigade and another 2,000-strong combat team here in Europe headquartered in Romania,” Biden said.

Through such planned measures, he said, the United States and its allies in the bloc are sending "an unambiguous signal of NATO's strength and cohesion."

“To this end, today I am announcing that the United States will strengthen its presence in Europe in response to the changed security conditions, as well as strengthen the collective security of our countries,” the head of the White House said.

Biden also recalled that this year the United States has already deployed an additional 20,000 American troops to Europe "to strengthen the alliance in response to Russia's aggressive actions," bringing its presence in the region to 100,000 people.

  • US President Joe Biden with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Madrid

  • © AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

As Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander later explained during a press conference, by deploying its brigades in Poland and Romania, the United States "will be able to maintain a very strict training schedule for both its personnel and allied personnel" .

NATO plans

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance said during a press conference following the first day of the NATO summit in Madrid that the bloc will strengthen its combat groups on the eastern flank "to the brigade level" and also transform the response forces.

“We will increase the strength of the high-readiness force to more than 300,000. We will also increase our ability to reinforce, including with more pre-deployed equipment and stockpiles of military supplies;

more forward-based forces and assets, such as air defenses;

strengthening command and control,” Stoltenberg said.

For the first time since the Cold War, NATO has such plans "with pre-allocated forces," he said.

“These troops will work with the internal defense forces and get acquainted with the terrain, objects and stocks placed in advance,” the bloc’s Secretary General specified.

Recall, according to NATO, at the end of 2021, the number of rapid reaction forces was 40 thousand people.

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the decisions of the North Atlantic Alliance to strengthen the US military presence in Europe and to build up forces on the eastern flank grossly violate the Russia-NATO Founding Act.

“The decisions ... flagrantly violate the Founding Act, primarily with regard to NATO’s obligation not to permanently deploy significant combat forces on the territory of the new – I mean Eastern European – members of the alliance,” Lavrov said.

As Stoltenberg noted during the same press conference, in order for the alliance to build up its forces even faster, “more funds need to be allocated.”

“Today, the Allies reaffirmed the commitment we made in 2014 to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense,” the head of NATO said.

Stoltenberg also said that the leaders of the countries of the bloc approved the new strategic concept of the North Atlantic alliance, as "rivalry is growing around the world."

According to him, the document states that Russia poses "the most significant and direct threat" to NATO security.

Stoltenberg recalled that in the current concept, approved in 2010, Russia is called a "strategic partner".

In March 2021, the administration of the 46th US President released the country's Interim Strategic National Security Guidelines, which also referred to Russia as a "threat" to the United States, as it allegedly was determined to "strengthen its global influence and play a destabilizing role on the world stage."

"Increase pressure on Moscow"

As Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State Pedagogical University, noted in an interview with RT, against the backdrop of such aggressive plans by the United States and NATO to strengthen their presence on the eastern flank, the statement of White House representative John Kirby looks "extremely cynical."

“His words testify to the violation of all diplomatic and international norms, as well as ideas about reality.

If the sharp increase in the number of NATO rapid reaction forces from 40,000 to 300,000, as well as the build-up of the American presence at the Russian borders, is not a direct provocation, then what is it?

the analyst said.

According to Shapovalov, the plans of the United States and the alliance to increase their contingent and the size of the bloc's rapid reaction forces are "absolutely unprecedented."

“These intentions only once again confirm the objectivity and relevance of the concerns that Russia has repeatedly expressed about the expansion of NATO infrastructure to the east.

Such actions are designed to increase the military threat to the territory of the Russian Federation, to escalate tensions near the Russian borders and thereby increase pressure on Moscow, ”the expert stated.

  • Symbols of NATO

  • AP

Shapovalov also called a lie Kirby's words that the North Atlantic Alliance allegedly has always been and will always be a defensive bloc.

“In fact, there can be no question of any defense: NATO has been fighting on foreign territory for decades, seizing foreign countries, destroying citizens of other states, as was the case, in particular, in Afghanistan and Yugoslavia,” the analyst noted.

At the same time, he is confident that Russia has enough funds to stop any provocations from the bloc.

“The Russian Federation has all the necessary military-technical potential for this.

NATO countries are not ready to go for direct military aggression against Russia, because they know that the response will be quick and devastating.

First of all, this stops the alliance countries from attacking the Russian Federation, ”the expert believes.

However, as Shapovalov noted, by increasing its contingent on the eastern flank, the United States also wants to "finally subjugate Europe."

“Washington hopes that they will be able to realize this by saturating this region with American troops.

After all, formally independent European countries are in fact colossally dependent on the United States.

Recently, the leading states of Europe, such as Germany and France, have been less than enthusiastic about American dominance.

But the more American military will be in Europe, the less the Europeans will have the opportunity to express their position, ”the analyst said.

A similar opinion is shared by Corresponding Member of the Academy of Military Sciences Sergei Sudakov.

According to him, by taking measures to increase the US contingent in the EU, Washington intends to "make Europe even more dependent."

“The White House does not want the Europeans to be militarily independent.

Or worse, they could protect themselves.

And Washington is doing everything to ensure that Europe does not dare to open its mouth and say that the Russian Federation does not threaten it.

This Russian "threat" is cultivated artificially.

The White House also needs to show the EU countries now that the only form of security for them is the continuation of the policy pursued by the United States, including funding NATO, ”Sudakov said in an interview with RT.

The expert believes that Washington's leading goal is through

strengthening its positions on the eastern flank of NATO "increase the threat to Russia's security."

“The same applies to the increase in the size of the alliance's rapid reaction force, which includes the US military.

This is a serious multi-ethnic grouping of the countries of the bloc, which will stand not just anywhere, but near the Russian borders.

Despite White House assurances to the contrary, this is a provocation and a threat to the Russian Federation.

But Russia has promising types of weapons, including hypersonics, as well as a mobile army that can cope with any tasks, ”the expert concluded.