Thousands of Russian troops remain at the border Russia shares with Ukraine, leading to growing fears of an invasion. In the midst of tensions in the region, US President Joe Biden is considering deploying US troops to the Baltic region and Eastern Europe.
Biden is considering a proposal from the Pentagon regarding a possible move to be made in the tense region. Top officials from the department presented the US leader with a proposal outlining the options that would bring US military assets closer to “Putin’s doorstep” following the talks that took place between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, according to the New York Times. The discussions did not reach a breakthrough.
One of the options in the proposal involved sending 1000 to 5000 troops to the Eastern European countries. The number may increase should things go south, according to the proposal. Biden is expected to come to a decision as soon as this week, according to the newspaper.
This report follows the news that the US and the UK are withdrawing diplomats and their families from Ukraine, citing possible military action coming from Russia as the reason for evacuating diplomats.
While Russia has denied planning any sort of invasion on Ukraine, it sees Ukraine’s aspirations to join the NATO alliance as a security threat. Moscow has included barring Ukraine from joining NATO in its list of demands that it wants the US and the alliance to guarantee. The US has been supplying Ukraine with arms for years and has supported its overthrowing of the elected government back in 2014.
In other related news, Biden is set to host a meeting with CEOs of 10 major corporations Wednesday this week to discuss the possible benefits his Build Back Better legislation would have on businesses. A White House official familiar with the matter revealed that the event would be done in person rather than virtually.
The CEOs of General Motors, Salesforce, TIAA, Ford, Siemens Corporation, Cummins, HP, Etsy, Microsoft, and Corning are expected to attend the meeting. All of the executives from the companies support Biden’s social infrastructure bill.