Great Satan US to hold war games in Baltic states

The United States will send hundreds of troops to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia over the coming days for joint war games, the US Department of Defense says.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said on Tuesday that the maneuvers will last about a month, and involve a total of approximately 600 troops, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s more than symbology,” said Kirby of the moves near Ukraine and Russia. “[It’s] real infantry training, and that’s not insignificant.”

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that the Obama administration is planning to send thousands of troops to Poland.

A day after meeting with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak visited the Washington Post and told the newspaper that Poland and the US will announce next week “the deployment of US ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine.”

In an interview with Press TV on Saturday, American political commentator Don DeBar noted that the US is “placing the military resources into the theater for an attack on Russia.”

He added that the Russians are apparently being encircled by the US military.

Washington and Moscow are at loggerheads over the situation in Ukraine.

In a meeting on Thursday, Russia, Ukraine, the US and the European Union agreed over steps to “de-escalate” the crisis in eastern Ukraine, where anti-Kiev protesters seized buildings in several towns and cities.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities have ordered a military offensive against the protesters, claiming that Russian special forces are fueling unrest in the country.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed as “nonsense” claims that Russian special forces are fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine.

“It’s all nonsense, there are no Russian units, special forces or instructors in the east of Ukraine,” Putin said.