Where Military Forces Are Assembling Around Russia and Ukraine
The U.S. raised the alarm with European allies in November about what it said was a buildup of Russian forces near the border with Ukraine that intelligence reports said may exceed 100,000 troops. It warned that a three-pronged move into Ukraine might take place from Southern Russia, Crimea and Belarus.
Russia denies any plans to invade Ukraine, saying the forces are on routine maneuvers. But it has warned Kyiv against making any military move against the separatist regions Moscow backs in the Donbas area. Russia also accused the U.S. and NATO allies of stoking tensions with naval exercises in the Black Sea. Ukraine denies it plans an assault.
Forces in Eastern Europe and Ukrainian Border

Russian military positions and
temporary sites
Locations of NATO troops
ESTONIA
More than
100,000
Russian troops
massed near
Ukraine border
4,000 NATO
troops led by
U.K., Canada
and Germany
LATVIA
Moscow
LITHUANIA
Minsk
RUSSIA
BELARUS
35,000
U.S. troops
4,500
U.S. troops
GERMANY
POLAND
Kyiv
UKRAINE
Rebel controlled area
Luhansk
Donetsk
Mariupol
1,000 U.S.
ROMANIA
The Crimean Peninsula is Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014
2,500 U.S.
Black Sea
200 mi
BULGARIA
200 km
Calling the alliance a threat, Russia has demanded NATO accept no more new members in Europe’s east, deploy no offensive weapons that it sees as threatening and pull back its infrastructure to where it was in 1997, before the former Soviet allies and republics joined.
The U.S. and NATO have rejected those demands, saying the bloc is defensive, offering instead talks on limiting missile deployments and military maneuvers in the region.
The Soviet Union’s withdrawal from its eastern European satellite states after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall ended decades of Cold War military confrontation in Europe. NATO expanded in response to appeals from former Warsaw Pact members to be admitted into the military alliance and ensure Europe-wide security.
NATO Neighbors

Joined NATO:
Prior to 1999
Since 1999
Aspirant NATO member
Extent of Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact alliance, 1989
Atlantic
Ocean
EST.
RUSSIA
LAT.
LITH.
BELARUS
POLAND
GERMANY
CZECH
REP.
UKRAINE
SLOVAK.
HUN.
ROM.
BOS.
GEORGIA
Black Sea
BUL.
A NATO summit in April 2008 declared that membership is open to Ukraine and Georgia once they meet the necessary conditions, despite objections from Russian President Vladimir Putin. While neither has moved much closer to joining the alliance since then, Putin’s demands that they never do so is a main source of tension.
The U.S. is marshalling allies to threaten painful economic sanctions on Russia if it does invade Ukraine, but there is disagreement on how severe those measures should be. NATO members have also stepped up supplies of defensive weapons to Ukraine, whose army is much smaller and weaker than Russia’s. Though the U.S. has said it wouldn’t send troops to defend Ukraine, which isn’t in NATO, the Biden administration put as many as 8,500 soldiers on heightened alert for deployment to bolster alliance members in Eastern Europe if needed.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen