Russia voices deep concern over US troops deployment

“US de facto is continuing to pump up tension in Europe,” Peskov said, adding that the deployments are “the best proof that we, as Russia, have an obvious reason to be worried.”

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced additional US military deployments to eastern Europe. They will include roughly 2,000 US troops to Poland and an additional few thousand to southeastern NATO countries, including Romania.

Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby earlier said that the United States was ready to send 8,500 troops to Europe but a final decision had not been made yet. He specified that the deployments would include combat, reconnaissance, aviation, medical and transport units. He added that the United States was not planning to deploy troops in Europe outside the territory of its NATO allies. President Joe Biden stated in a talk with journalists on Friday that he would be moving the troops to Eastern Europe “in the near term.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also told reporters Wednesday that officials would no longer describe a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine as “imminent” because it implies that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a decision on whether to invade.

“We stopped using it because I think it sent a message that we weren’t intending to send, which was that we knew that President Putin had made a decision,” Psaki told reporters during a briefing.

Psaki noted that the “vast majority” of times she had talked about an invasion she has said Putin “could invade at any time.”

“That’s true,” Psaki said, adding, “We still don’t know that he’s made a decision.”

During a briefing last week, Psaki described a potential invasion as “imminent.”

Peskov told the media on Thursday Moscow has noticed no changes in Washington’s rhetoric regarding Russia’s alleged preparations for an invasion of Ukraine.

“No, we have noticed no changes [in the rhetoric],” he said when asked if the Kremlin had taken note of the fact that the United States had stopped using the word “inevitable” in the context of Russia’s alleged preparations for an invasion of Ukraine.

The West and Kiev have recently been spreading allegations about Russia’s potential ‘invasion’ of Ukraine. Peskov castigated these claims as “empty and unfounded,” serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such allegations and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have very serious consequences.