US could withdraw military forces from Central, Eastern Europe: Bild

Bild claimed that European members of NATO “feared” that the high-level US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, could lead to such an outcome. The German media outlet quoted an anonymous Western European security official as saying, “according to our information, we’re talking about [Vladimir] Putin’s 2021 demands, that is, the withdrawal of US troops from all NATO states that joined the alliance after 1990.”

In December 2021, Russia presented the US and NATO with a list of proposals aimed at reshaping the security architecture in Europe, and to rule out Ukraine’s accession. The West rejected the Kremlin’s overture as an ultimatum at the time.

Bild also quoted former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis who posted on X on Tuesday that “it seems much more than likely” that the Kremlin would renew its demands that “NATO must go back to its 1997 borders, retreating from everything except East Germany.” He noted that while Trump technically cannot unilaterally implement a “reversal of NATO enlargement,” he could still “withdraw US troops from the Eastern Flank, which would have almost the same effect.”

The nations that would theoretically be affected include Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden.

A Romanian official made similar allegations on Wednesday. Cristian Diaconescu, the president’s chief of staff and adviser for defense and national security, alleged that while the US team had rejected Moscow’s supposed demands in Riyadh, “the situation can change from hour to hour or from day to day,” and Washington could eventually cave in.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the claims as “not true,” adding, however, that Moscow’s concerns regarding “NATO’s military infrastructure having inched toward our borders as part of several waves” are “no secret to anyone.”