Russia Vows ’Totally Asymmetrical’ Response to Major US Troop Build-Up in Europe

Local Editor

Russia's envoy to NATO vowed a "totally asymmetrical" response if the alliance stands by a plan to deploy new armored units to Eastern Europe. Citing Russian "aggression" as a pretext, the US announced "continuous troop rotations" starting 2017.

"We are not passive observers, we consistently take all the military measures we consider necessary in order to counterbalance this reinforced presence that is not justified by anything," Moscow's permanent representative at the alliance Aleksandr Grushko said in an interview with TV channel Rossiya-24 on Wednesday. "Certainly, we'll respond totally asymmetrically."

However, Grushko did not elaborate further on his statement, but said that Russia's actions would correspond to its "understanding of the extent of the military threat, would not be extremely expensive, but also highly effective."

The comments from Russia's NATO envoy fell shortly after the Pentagon announced a plan to increase its troop presence in "the European theater" of up to three fully-manned Army brigades by the end of 2017, one armored, one airborne and one Stryker brigade.

Relatively, Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove of the US European Command said that: "This Army implementation plan continues to demonstrate our strong and balanced approach to reassuring our NATO allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team