{"id":5941,"date":"2026-05-11T11:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/5941\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T11:11:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:11:30","slug":"natos-eastern-flank-fears-greater-exposure-to-russia-as-us-pulls-away-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/5941\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO\u2019s eastern flank fears greater exposure to Russia as US pulls away | International"},"content":{"rendered":"

NATO countries most exposed to the Russian threat are watching with concern as the guarantor of Europe\u2019s security pulls away. U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s disdain for America\u2019s allies \u2014 most recently seen by his withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany \u2014 is setting off alarm bells in the countries along the Alliance\u2019s eastern flank. They fear that the crisis in transatlantic ties<\/a> could undermine the core principle of mutual defense and send a message of weakness that Moscow will be quick to exploit.<\/p>\n

Intelligence agencies and governments across several European countries warn that the Kremlin could attack an EU neighbor in the short or medium term. As Polish foreign minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski said at last week\u2019s Defence24 Days conference in Warsaw, \u201cthe likelihood of a conventional incursion across NATO\u2019s borders is low. We would detect it \u2014 you can\u2019t hide tank brigades.\u201d Yet he added: \u201cThe concern is that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is desperate, so he might do something desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poland, the Baltic states, and the Nordic countries are home to some of NATO\u2019s most vulnerable points \u2014 places where Putin could test the Alliance\u2019s unity<\/a> and response. Beyond strategic positions in the Arctic, such as Norway\u2019s Svalbard archipelago, two locations stand out on the EU\u2019s far eastern edge. The first is Narva, Estonia\u2019s third\u2011largest city, where the European Union meets Russia. With 97% of its population Russian\u2011speaking, it is exposed to potential destabilization attempts by the Kremlin. The other major headache is Suwa\u0142ki, on the border between Poland and Lithuania. This 40-mile corridor between Russia\u2019s Kaliningrad exclave and Belarus is the Baltic states\u2019 only land link to the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Putin, this Trump presidency is a window of opportunity, and the Baltic states are very worried,\u201d a senior official explained to several Spanish newspapers last Monday during a study visit organized by the Polish government. \u201cRussia believes that the EU and NATO are weak and sees that under Trump, the EU-U.S. relationship has weakened. This perception is reinforced by every comment Trump makes, such as the announcement of the troop withdrawal from Germany,\u201d he added. Moscow also knows that the European rearmament effort<\/a> is a process that will take years.<\/p>\n

\u201cNATO\u2019s eastern flank is under intense pressure from Russia. Strategic depth lies in Germany,\u201d the senior official said regarding Trump\u2019s announced troop pullout. Poland\u2019s ultraconservative, anti\u2011German, Trump\u2011aligned Law and Justice party \u2014 represented by its president, Karol Nawrocki \u2014 has turned the issue into a domestic political weapon and is maneuvering to have the United States relocate those troops to Poland. On Friday, Trump opened the door to that possibility: \u201cI like him [Nawrocki] a lot, so that\u2019s possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sikorski, on Wednesday at the Defence 24 Days conference in Warsaw.PAWEL SUPERNAK (EFE)Poland wants more US soldiers<\/p>\n

The liberal government of Donald Tusk is trying to balance two priorities: avoiding any move that might unsettle cohesion among European allies, while also pushing to increase the U.S. military presence in Poland, which it considers strategic for its defense. \u201cPoland is ready to accept more American soldiers in order to strengthen NATO\u2019s eastern flank and provide even better protection for Europe,\u201d said Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, following Trump\u2019s remarks. More than 8,000 U.S. troops are already stationed in the country, but Warsaw has long been working to expand that contingent.<\/p>\n

The minister warned on Wednesday at Defence24 Days that \u201cthere will be no security in Europe without the presence of U.S. troops.\u201d \u201cEurope must assume more responsibility, but the U.S. has an irreplaceable strategic nuclear deterrent capability,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Over the two\u2011day event \u2014 the most important security and defense forum in NATO\u2019s northeastern region \u2014 politicians, academics, and military officials debated how to strengthen Europe\u2019s deterrence against Russia and bolster military defense<\/a>. Priorities included expanding air capabilities, developing long\u2011range precision\u2011strike systems, reinforcing land forces and drones, improving military mobility, and enhancing cyberdefense.<\/p>\n

No alternative to the US<\/p>\n

Experts argued that rearmament \u2014 strengthening national armies and developing the European pillar \u2014 is urgent, but there was also a note of unease about the evident distancing of the United States. \u201cThere is a lot of rhetorical noise out there, and naturally that noise is being fueled by statements from U.S. President Donald Trump,\u201d acknowledged Karolis Aleksa, Lithuania\u2019s deputy defense minister. \u201cOur shared conclusion, and also our strategic one, is that there is no alternative to the transatlantic relationship or to collective defense. Because without the United States and without the presence of U.S. forces, we are not able to defend ourselves against our adversaries \u2014 against Russia \u2014 as we would like.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hanno Pevkur, Estonia\u2019s defense minister, still hopes the relationship with the White House can be steered back on track: \u201cArticle 5 is not only about defending territory. It is also about values such as freedom \u2014 of movement, of expression, economic freedom \u2014 which are important for democracy. This helps us understand each other, because they also defend democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nikolina Volf, head of Croatia\u2019s Directorate of Defense Policy, echoed this sentiment: \u201cWe cannot conceive of European security without the United States. But they haven\u2019t said they\u2019re going to abandon Europe either. They\u2019re still here, they\u2019re still with us.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, K\u00e9vin Thieron, responsible for transatlantic and NATO relations at the French Ministry of Defense, warned that Europe needs to come to terms with the new reality: \u201cThe shift is already happening, and my message is that we must accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Pszczel, a former Polish diplomat with more than two decades of experience in the Atlantic Alliance, told EL PA\u00cdS that the concern palpable across the region is \u201cfully justified,\u201d describing the moment as \u201cNATO\u2019s most serious crisis in a long time.\u201d To the long\u2011standing burden\u2011sharing dispute \u2014 a complaint Washington has voiced for decades \u2014 one must add the war in Ukraine, the largest conflict on European soil since World War II, and Trump\u2019s approach to NATO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many things \u2014 the verbal attacks on allies, the threats regarding Greenland<\/a> and Canada \u2014 that are already almost incomprehensible. But, in terms of concrete policy, I think the most difficult thing to understand is the United States\u2019 policy toward Russia. It\u2019s almost incomprehensible to us; that\u2019s the only way to describe it,\u201d said Pszczel, who is now an analyst at the Center for Oriental Studies. For him, \u201cit\u2019s a form of unjustifiable leniency.\u201d<\/p>\n

On NATO\u2019s eastern flank, officials are keen to maintain a working relationship with Trump despite his unpredictability. European leaders note that the United States also benefits from its military presence in Europe, which projects geopolitical power, while trying to keep Trump appeased. That is why many see statements such as those by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz \u2014 who criticized Washington\u2019s lack of strategy in the war against Tehran and said Iran was humiliating the U.S. \u2014 as unwise. The same goes for the stance of Spain\u2019s prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, who has positioned himself as the standard-bearer of the opposition to Trump.<\/p>\n

There is also concern about Washington\u2019s waning leadership among its allies. \u201cWho, if not the U.S., can exert pressure on Europe as a whole to increase defense spending?\u201d asked Tomasz Szatkowski, former Polish permanent representative to NATO and secretary\u2011general of the ultraconservative European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament. Under Trump\u2019s leadership, the Alliance agreed last year to raise military spending to 5% of GDP over the next decade.<\/p>\n

On the Alliance\u2019s eastern flank, there is a palpable irritation that the Russian threat is not perceived with the same urgency in western and southern Europe. Poland and the Baltic states, which are already close to the 5% target, struggle to understand the reluctance of countries like Spain to increase defense investment and appeal to the principle of solidarity among allies. \u201cNATO is like a symphony orchestra; we all have to play our part for it to work. France, Italy, Spain\u2026 we all need to spend more on defense,\u201d urged Estonia\u2019s defense minister, Hanno Pevkur.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NATO countries most exposed to the Russian threat are watching with concern as the guarantor of Europe\u2019s security…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[451,64,453,9,518],"class_list":{"0":"post-5941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poland","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-donald-tusk","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-poland","12":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}