US troop boost fuels tensions in Europe

The deployment of additional United States troops in Eastern Europe is escalating tensions in the region, the Kremlin said yesterday, after Washington said it would send 3,000 extra troops to Poland and Romania.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, landed in Kyiv in an effort to mediate the crisis with Russia, as EU leaders stepped up outreach to the Kremlin to defuse fears Moscow could invade Ukraine.

As Moscow refuses to pull back over 100,000 troops from Ukraine's borders, the leaders of European powerhouses Germany and France said they were eyeing possible visits to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

French President Emmanuel Macron was set to hold his third phone call in a week with Putin later yesterday and also talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Western powers have been engaged in intense diplomatic efforts -- coupled with the threat of sanctions against Putin's inner circle -- to deter any further attack on ex-Soviet Ukraine, despite strenuous denials from Moscow.

Erdogan is looking to pursue his own diplomatic track when he meets Zelensky, by leveraging his special relations with Putin and strong support for Kyiv to set up a three-way summit.

But his attempts to host peace talks between Putin and Zelensky have been stymied by Kremlin anger over Nato member Turkey's supply of combat drones to Kyiv.

Amid the diplomatic flurry, Washington angered Moscow by announcing the new troop deployments to two of Nato's eastern members.

"As long as (President Vladimir Putin) is acting aggressively, we are going to make sure we reassure our Nato allies in eastern Europe that we're there," President Joe Biden said Wednesday.

The Kremlin urged the US to "stop escalating tensions" after Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned the "destructive" move would make it harder for a compromise between the two sides.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stressed the US troop movements were to demonstrate commitment to the Nato alliance, and that no US soldiers would be sent to fight in Ukraine.

But that is unlikely to assuage Putin, who has accused the United States and Nato of seeking to "contain" Russia by placing troops and strategic arms on its border.

Putin has left the door open to talks, saying he was studying Western proposals set out last month in response to Russia's demands, and that he hoped for a "solution."

But in a call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, he noted "the unwillingness of Nato to adequately respond to the well-founded Russian concerns".

The Kremlin also claimed it had China's support in the standoff -- backing that would be demonstrated when Putin meets President Xi Jinping in Beijing today at the opening of the Olympics.