European countries, especially those located to the east, have begun to increase their expenses in defense against the fear of a possible Russian aggression, within the framework of the Ukraine War. For example, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have raised a defense barrier in their territory. While the Norwegian government has announced that plans to increase your defense expenditure historically in the next twelve years.
However, after the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House, who seems to maintain a position quite far from Europe, the United States Department of Defense is considering removing up to 10,000 east Europe troops sent by the administration of Biden, which has generated some concern in these countries, according to the NBC News. The information was confirmed by six US and European officials of the NBCwho supported the reduction by half of the deployment.
Although still The decision is not known officially, nor the exact number of soldiers that could be removed, In the event that the Pentagon continues with this measure, the Russians could perceive “the withdrawal as a weakening of deterrence, and this will increase its willingness to interfere in several ways in European life,” said Seth Jones, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
It should be noted that There are currently 100,000 US soldiers in Europe, 65,000 of them with a permanent basis on the continent. The rest are reinforcements and rotation personnel. In the event that part of these troops leave the territory officially, these countries would be even more exposed to a possible Russian infiltration, in a new distancing from Trump with respect to Europe.
