WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Barack Obama pledged
Tuesday to boost U.S. military deployments and exercises throughout
Europe, an effort costing as much as $1 billion to demonstrate American
solidarity with a continent rattled by Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
But
even as Obama warned that Moscow could face further punishments,
leaders of Britain, France and Germany were lining up to meet with
Russian President Vladimir Putin at week’s end.
Those one-on-one
meetings would appear to send a mixed message about the West’s approach
to relations with Russia, given that the same leaders are also
boycotting a summit Putin had been scheduled to host this week.
Obama
does not plan to hold a formal meeting with Putin while both attend
events Friday marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion that
hastened the end of World War II, though the two leaders are likely to
have some interaction. The U.S. president suggested there was no
contradiction between efforts to isolate Russia and engaging directly
with Putin.
"The fact of the matter is that Russia is a
significant country with incredibly gifted people, resources, an
enormous land mass, and they rightfully play an important role on the
world stage and in the region," Obama said during a news conference with
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski. He added that it could be
possible for Putin to "rebuild some of the trust that’s been shattered
during this past year" but said that would take time.
Western
leaders, including Obama, have spoken with Putin by phone multiple times
since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and stationed
tens of thousands of troops on its border with the former Soviet
republic. But until this week, they’ve avoided face-to-face meetings
with Putin to avoid giving the impression that the Russian leader can
slide back into normal relationships with U.S. and European leaders that
have accused him of stoking instability in Ukraine.
Putin’s
meetings this week will be closely watched by Poland and other Central
and Eastern European nations. Many countries in the regions have been
pressing for broader NATO assistance to serve as a buffer in case Russia
tries to advance beyond Ukraine.
Obama’s announcement Tuesday of a
"European Reassurance Initiative," costing up to $1 billion, was aimed
at quelling some of that anxiety. It marks a significant departure from a
two-decade trend toward a smaller U.S. military presence in Europe amid
a shift by the Obama administration to a more visible and active naval
and air power presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Just three years ago
the Pentagon downgraded the top U.S. Army Europe commander from a
four-star to a three-star general.
If the U.S. Congress approves
the funding, the Pentagon would ramp up its air and ground force
rotations in Europe, as well as boost military exercises and position
more equipment on the continent.
The plan also calls for
increasing the U.S. Navy participation in NATO deployments in the Black
and Baltic Seas and helping non-NATO nations such as Georgia, Moldova
and Ukraine bolster their own defenses. But key details of the effort
were unclear, including how big the U.S. troop increase on the continent
might be.
Obama said the fund would be "a powerful demonstration of America’s unshakeable commitment to our
NATO allies."
Komorowski,
appearing with the American president, announced that Poland intended
to increase its own defense budget to 2 percent of its gross domestic
product, and he urged other NATO nations to do the same.
Obama
arrived in Warsaw for the start of a three-country swing through Europe
that takes him next to Belgium for a meeting of the Group of 7 major
industrial nations, then on to France for the D-Day commemorations.
His
itinerary in Poland was filled with stops aimed at highlighting the
West’s ties to this former communist nation and its neighbors. Moments
after Air Force One landed in Warsaw, Obama strode across the tarmac to
view four F-16 fighter jets and the American and Polish airmen and
soldiers who cooperate on NATO missions. Obama and Komorowski also
convened a security meeting and dinner with leaders from Bulgaria, the
Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania
and Slovakia.
The centerpiece of Obama’s visit to Warsaw comes
Wednesday, when he’ll speak at a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary
of Poland’s first free election and its emergence from communism.
Ukraine’s new president-elect, Petro Poroshenko, will also attend the
event and hold talks with Obama, underscoring Washington’s efforts to
underscore the legitimacy of the fledgling government in Kiev.
Putin
is expected to dine with French President Francois Hollande Thursday
night and hold separate meetings with British Prime Minister David
Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
All three Western
leaders are part of the coalition of wealthy nations that decided
earlier this year to boycott the Group of 8 summit Putin had planned to
host in Sochi, Russia, the site of this year’s Winter Olympics. Instead,
they scheduled the upcoming Group of 7 meeting in Brussels, pointedly
excluding Putin.
The G-7 leaders are expected to discuss the
question of which Russian actions in Ukraine could set off further U.S.
and European Union sanctions — either expanding existing penalties or
levying deeper penalties against the Russian economy. Unless Russia
significantly escalates the situation in Ukraine, it’s unclear whether
European leaders have any appetite for more sanctions given their broad
economic ties to Russia.
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Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler and Matthew Lee in Warsaw and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed
to this report.