U.S. soldiers salute the flag during a base renaming ceremony at Poznan, Poland, July 30, 2022. Forward Operating Site Poznan was renamed Camp Kosciuszko, making it the permanent U.S. Army garrison in the country. The proposed National Defense Authorization Act would essentially void parts of a 26-year-old agreement with Russia that put certain limits on how troops are deployed in former Soviet states. (Ellison Schuman/U.S. Army)
Basing U.S. troops in Eastern Europe permanently has long been a NATO taboo, but a new congressional budget proposal aims to change that.
Tucked into the House Armed Service Committee’s National Defense Authorization Act, released Monday, is a provision that would essentially void parts of a 26-year-old agreement with Russia limiting how troops are deployed in Eastern Europe.
The House budget plan asserts that the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act “does not prevent the United States from establishing a permanent troop presence in Eastern Europe.”
The bill, which is being debated this week in Congress, also says the NATO provisions do not constrain “in any manner” the deployment of United States or alliance forces in the region.
The NATO-Russia Founding Act, made in Paris in the aftermath of the Cold War when tensions with Russia had eased, has become a point of internal contention in recent years.
The language of the act was vague, but allies had a general understanding that it put off-limits the idea of building new bases or stationing large combat formations in countries formerly aligned with the Soviet Union.
The agreement says NATO will carry out its missions without “additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces.”
Instead of new bases, the alliance “will have to rely on adequate infrastructure commensurate” with tasks such as joint training efforts.
But the language of the act left plenty of wiggle room for the U.S. and other allies to carry out missions in Eastern Europe, and tens of thousands of allied troops rotate into and out of the region.
Even the new headquarters of the Army’s V Corps in Poland, home to the first permanent U.S. garrison in the country, could be argued to be in line with the NATO Russia-Founding Act, since the base is home to Army planners rather than infantry units.
In June, Celeste Wallander, assistant defense secretary for international security affairs, told reporters that the V Corps headquarters is consistent with the United States’ understanding of the NATO-Russia Founding Act.
Still, following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, some allies began to question the relevance of preserving the NATO pact given Russia’s own violations of the agreement.
And such debates have only intensified since the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In particular, countries such as Poland and the Baltic states have made it clear that they favor a permanent allied presence.
If the provision in the House’s NDAA proposal becomes law, it will align Washington with its allies in the east while potentially putting it at odds with other NATO states, such as Germany, which have expressed interest in adhering to the act’s intent.
