Early deployment of biggest American force in Europe since cold war may be attempt to lock Trump into strategy 
 
 The Kremlin has hit out at the biggest deployment of US troops in Europe since the end of the cold war, branding the arrival of troops and tanks in Poland as a threat to Russia’s national security. 
 
 The deployment, intended to counter what Nato portrays as Russian aggression in eastern Europe, will see US troops permanently stationed along Russia’s western border for the first time. 
 
 About 1,000 of a promised 4,000 troops arrived in Poland at the start of the week, and a formal ceremony to welcome them is to be held on Saturday. Some people waved and held up American flags as the troops, tanks and heavy armoured vehicles crossed into south-western Poland from Germany, according to Associated Press. 
 
 But their arrival was not universally applauded. In Moscow, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We perceive it as a threat. These actions threaten our interests, our security. Especially as it concerns a third party building up its military presence near our borders. It’s [the US], not even a European state.” 
 
 The Kremlin may hold back on retaliatory action in the hope that a Donald Trump presidency will herald a rapprochement with Washington. Trump, in remarks during the election campaign and since, has sown seeds of doubt over the deployments by suggesting he would rather work with than confront Putin. 
 
 But on Thursday Nato officials played down Trump’s comments, saying they hoped and expected that he would not attempt to reverse the move after he became president on 20 January. 
 
 US to speed up deployment of troops to Poland, Romania and the Baltic Read more 
 
 That prediction was reinforced by Trump’s proposed defence secretary, James Mattis, and his proposed secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who backed Nato during Senate confirmation hearings. 
 
 Mattis, in rhetoric at odds with the president-elect, said the west should recognise the reality that Putin was trying to break Nato. 
 
 Tillerson, who has business dealings in Russia, described Russia’s annexation of Crimea as “as an act of force” and said that when Russia flexed its muscles, the US must mount “a proportional show of force”. 
 
 Nato was caught out by the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has struggled to cope with Russia’s use of hybrid warfare, which combines propaganda, cyberwarfare and the infiltration of regular troops disguised as local rebels. 
 
 In response, the US and its Nato allies have been steadily increasing air patrols and training exercises in eastern Europe. The biggest escalation is the current deployment of US troops, agreed at last summer’s Nato summit in Warsaw. 
 
 The move was billed as an attempt to reassure eastern European states who have been calling for the permanent deployment of US troops in the belief that Russia would be less likely to encroach on territory where US troops are present. 
 
 Peter Cook, the Pentagon press spokesman, said: “The United States is demonstrating its continued commitment to collective security through a series of actions designed to reassure Nato allies and partners of America’s dedication to enduring peace and stability in the region in light of the Russian intervention in Ukraine.” 
 
 Poland in particular has pressed for a permanent US troop deployment since soon after the fall of communism in 1989. 
 
 Nato officials insist that the US and other alliance troops deployed to eastern Europe are not “permanent”, which would be in breach of an agreement with Russia. The US plans to rotate the troops every nine months, so it can argue they are not in breach of the Russian treaty, but effectively there will be a permanent presence. 
 
 Deployment was originally scheduled for later in the month but a decision was made last month to bring it forward, possibly a move by Barack Obama before he leaves office to try to lock the president-elect into the strategy. 
 
 
 
 The troops from the Third Armor Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Carson, Colorado, along with hundreds of armoured vehicles and tanks, were moved from the US to Germany last week for transit by rail and road to Poland and elsewhere in eastern Europe. The US is sending 87 tanks, and 144 armoured vehicles. 
 
 As well as being stationed in Poland, the US troops will fan out across other eastern European states, including Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania. 
 
 The UK is also contributing to the buildup of Nato forces in eastern Europe. The UK formally took command this week of Nato’s response force, made up of 3,000 UK troops plus others from Nato who will be on permanent standby ready to deploy within days. The contributing countries include the US, Denmark, Spain, Norway and Poland. 
 
 Few at Nato seriously believe that war with Russia is likely but there have been dangerous developments, with escalation on both sides, including a buildup of Russian troops. Russia alarmed Poland and other eastern European states by moving nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles to its naval base at Kaliningrad in the autumn. At the time Nato regarded the move as a response to its own deployments. 
 
 The Polish foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, voicing concern in eastern Europe that Trump might do a deal with Putin, said this week he hoped that any such reconciliation would not be at Poland’s expense. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Watch the convoy of tanks arrive in Poland 
 
 Russia says it views the arrival of more than 3,000 US soldiers in Poland as a threat to its own security. 
 
 The troops are part of President Barack Obama's response to reassure Nato allies concerned about a more aggressive Russia. 
 
 It is the largest US military reinforcement of Europe in decades. 
 
 President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that the move "threatens our interests and our security". 
 
 "It's a third country that is building up its military presence on our borders in Europe," he said. "It isn't even a European country." 
 
 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Mechkov called the deployment a "factor destabilising European security". 
 
 Poland's Undersecretary of State for Defence Tomasz Szatkowski said the deployment was necessary because of Russia's "large exercises" next to its border and its "aggressive actions in our vicinity - I mean Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea". 
 
 Trump factor 
 
 More than 80 main battle tanks and hundreds of armoured vehicles have already arrived in Germany and are now being moved into eastern Europe by road and rail. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption The plan is to rotate the forces every nine months 
 
 Part of the US force entered at Poland's Olszyna border crossing with Germany on Thursday. 
 
 The plan is to rotate the forces every nine months. Other nations involved in the rotation are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. 
 
 The US Armoured Brigade will also carry out military exercises in the Baltics, all part of President Obama's response to Russia's intervention in Ukraine and to reassure nervous Nato allies. 
 
 Last October, Russia sent nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to its exclave of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, followed a month later by Bastion anti-ship missile launchers. 
 
 The arrival of the US forces in eastern Europe comes just days before the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has signalled he wants to improve relations with Moscow. 
 
 The election of Mr Trump has raised questions as to whether this heightened US military posture will continue, BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale reports from Poland. 
 
 Mr Trump's nomination for defence secretary - Gen James Mattis - is likely to be asked about the new administration's attitude to Russia in his Senate confirmation hearing later on Thursday. ||||| The deployment of 1,000 US soldiers to Poland is nothing but a PR move, Russian security expert Dmitry Yefimov told Sputnik. 
 
 In an interview with Sputnik, Russian security expert Dmitry Yefimov described the deployment of 1,000 US soldiers to Poland as little more than a PR move. 
 
 Earlier this week, Bartlomiej Misiewicz, spokesman for the Polish Defense Ministry, said that almost 1,000 US soldiers and the first shipment of equipment for a US tank brigade had arrived in Poland on a mission to build up region's defense capabilities. 
 
 The incoming tank brigade is comprised of approximately 4,000 service personnel, 87 tanks, 18 self-propelled Paladin howitzers, 144 Bradley fighting vehicles and hundreds of Humvees. 
 
 Commenting on the matter, Dmitry Yefimov specifically drew attention to the fact that the US military will be deployed in Europe on a rotating basis. 
 
 "The fact that this US contingent will be stationed in Europe on a rotating basis bypasses the agreements on the number of NATO troops near our borders. Although they will now conduct drills near the Russian borders in the next nine months, I think it won't damage Russia's interests," he said. 
 
 According to him, the US is trying "to gain a foothold in Europe at least at the level of tactical decisions." 
 
 "But I think that US President-elect Donald Trump and his new military advisers may well review this tactics because Trump focuses more on America's internal situation, " Yefimov said. 
 
 At the same time, he said that for Europeans, the ideological component of joint military exercises with the United States is worth much more than the military aspect. 
 
 "What we see now is an attempt to have an external enemy rather than fight with the inner foe. It seems to me that a wave of terror will increase in Europe this year, which is why Europeans will have to compensate by thinking about Russia," according to Yefimov. 
 
 "If they think of Russia, they will be less fearful of domestic terrorists. That's why they are conducting this PR attack, and it is safe to say that the ideological component of these exercises is much more important than the military one," he said. 
 
 In an interview with Sputnik Germany earlier this week, a member of Germany's Die Linke Party explained what he thinks are the real reasons behind the upcoming NATO maneuvers. 
 
 "First of all, this is about the justification of NATO's existence. Therefore, new threats are being invented and new scenarios — developed. Since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, Russia has been portrayed, once again, as an enemy in Germany. After its rather unsuccessful military operations abroad — in Afghanistan and Libya — NATO is searching for new meaning in order to justify its existence," Neu said. 
 
 For his part, Polish commentator and former politician Mariusz Olszewski told Sputnik that "Barack Obama is taking every effort to annoy Trump and put spokes in his wheel so that he may put Trump at a disadvantage." 
 
 Addressing the deployment of US soldiers to Poland, Olszewski said that it was high time to abandon divisive policies and that Poland should focus on upgrading its military capabilities instead of relying on a foreign military presence. 
 
 NATO has been building up its presence and defense capabilities in Eastern Europe, concentrating on the three Baltic States and Poland, with each expected to receive additional battalions starting this year. 
 
 Russia has repeatedly warned that it sees the arrival of troops and military equipment on or near its borders as signs of hostility, which may destabilize the region.
– Europe is welcoming the largest US military deployment in the region since the Cold War. Some 87 tanks, 144 armored vehicles, and 4,000 soldiers are expected to reach Poland in the coming days, with many already in place, before they're spread across Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as part of a NATO commitment in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine, reports the Guardian. Denmark, Spain, Norway, Poland, and the UK are also contributing to the force, which will conduct military exercises and rotate every nine months as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, reports the BBC. But with a week before Donald Trump becomes president, the future of the force remains unclear. Trump has suggested he may not stick to NATO guidelines to defend all members. He also desires a warmer relationship with Russia than President Obama allowed, and the Kremlin has called the deployment a threat to its national security. A Russian security official tells Sputnik that "Trump and his new military advisers may well review [these] tactics," which he described as a "PR attack." The subject will likely come up Thursday during a Senate confirmation hearing for Trump's pick for secretary of defense, James Mattis.