WASHINGTON/COPENHAGEN, Feb 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US and Belarusian defense chiefs have held rare telephone talks to avoid a “miscalculation” during Russia-Belarus joint military drills, the Pentagon said, at a time of heightened tensions over the Kremlin’s massing of troops near Ukraine.
“The phone call facilitated communication between both leaders to reduce chances of miscalculation and gain perspectives on current European security,” the Pentagon statement said.
Russia rolled its tanks across Belarus on Thursday for live-fire drills amid rising Western fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, NATO member Denmark said Thursday it was ready to allow US military troops on its soil as part
of a new bilateral defence agreement with the US, amid rising tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine.
The Scandinavian country has become one of Washington’s closest European allies in the past two decades, having fought alongside the US in Iraq.
“The United States has reached out to Denmark, proposing a bilateral defence cooperation,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters.
“The exact nature of this collaboration has not yet been defined but it could include the presence of US troops, material and military equipment on Danish soil,” she added.
The negotiations have been in the works for “a long time” and are not a direct result of the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine, Frederiksen said.
But that crisis demonstrates the need for more cooperation, she added.
“It is clear that the situation in Ukraine illustrates very, very clearly that we cannot take our freedom, our peace and our security for granted”, the prime minister said.
Norway and the Baltic states already have similar agreements with Washington, Copenhagen said.
“NATO and the United States are guarantors of our security. That is why we join forces with the United States when Western values such as democracy and freedom are under threat,” said Danish Defence Minister Morten Bodskov, who was also present at Thursday’s press conference.
While the details of the cooperation remain to be hammered out, Denmark said there were no plans for a new military base — its autonomous territory Greenland is already home to the Thule air base — nor nuclear weapons on its soil.
“If the Americans say they want authorisation to put nuclear weapons on Danish soil, the answer is no”, insisted Bodskov.
The United States announced in early February it was sending 3,000 US troops to Eastern Europe to support NATO forces, including 1,700 to Poland, which also has a bilateral defence deal with the US.
Denmark said earlier this week it was boosting its military preparedness in response to Russia’s “unacceptable military pressure” on Ukraine, increasing the readiness of a mobile NATO-operational battalion of 700-800 troops.
It also said it would also be ready to send two F-16 fighter jets to its Baltic island of Bornholm “if judged necessary”. — NNN-AGENCIES
