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Ex-Pentagon Chief: US President Must Swallow Pride, Work it Out With Putin

© AP Photo / Czarek SokolowskiSoldiers kneel down on the beach after an amphibious landing during NATO sea exercises BALTOPS 2015 that are to reassure the Baltic Sea region allies in the face of a resurgent Russia, in Ustka, Poland, Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Soldiers kneel down on the beach after an amphibious landing during NATO sea exercises BALTOPS 2015 that are to reassure the Baltic Sea region allies in the face of a resurgent Russia, in Ustka, Poland, Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - Sputnik International
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Amid ongoing tensions between Russia and the United States, former secretary of defense Chuck Hagel has recommended that the next US President, whomever it may be, should really have a heart to heart with President Vladimir Putin.

Tensions between Moscow and Washington have been at an all-time post-Cold War high. The US is currently engaged in joint military drills with Georgia, mere miles from Russia’s border, while the US Navy has sailed aggressively close to Russian waters in the Baltic Sea.

Polish Army soldiers check their tank after the NATO Noble Jump exercise on a training range near Swietoszow Zagan, Poland, Thursday, June 18, 2015 - Sputnik International
Breaking the Rules: How NATO 'Could Undermine' Founding Act With Russia

To avoid future conflict, former secretary of defense Hagel stated that the next US President must swallow their pride and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss de-escalation.

"Now that might be distasteful, but we know enough about President Putin to know he deals leader to leader," Hagel said at the Atlantic Council.

"…There is a lot of damage that can be done [around the world], and until that leader-to-leader dialogue begins, ‘what you need, what we need, and let’s start sorting this out,’ then you will consider a proxy war."

On NATO’s plans to boost its presence in the Baltic, Hagel warned that this could lead to unintended consequences.

"I’d be very careful with this. Because the centrifugal force of this is so subtle it takes you right down into the middle of a situation that you didn’t want to be in," he said.

Local residents watch as a members of US Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment ride on an armored vehicle during the ''Dragoon Ride'' military exercise, in Salociai some 178 kms (110 miles) north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Monday, March 23, 2015. - Sputnik International
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With NATO deploying additional troops to Baltic states, Russia will respond in kind, Hagel opined, and both sides could then find themselves "very quickly in another Cold War buildup here that makes sense for neither side."

The former secretary suggested that officials in Washington are failing to consider the long-term implications of its unnecessarily aggressive policies.

"We continue to build up the eastern flank of NATO with more battalions, more exercises, and more ships and more platforms, and the Russians will respond," Hagel said. "Not sure where that takes you, either. I’m not sure there’s some real strategic thinking here. It’s a reaction. It’s a tactical kind of ricocheting from crisis to crisis."

While opposed to a permanent stationing of NATO forces in the Baltic, Hagel does, however, support the use of rotational armored brigade teams.

"Those forces are far more agile and ready. When you have stationary troops you have overhead, you have a lot of different dynamics. I just think it’s smarter today, for the kind of world we live in."

German army tanks are lined up after the NATO Noble Jump exercise on a training range near Swietoszow Zagan, Poland, Thursday, June 18, 2015 - Sputnik International
NATO Must Stop Expansion in E Europe if Seeks Dialogue With Moscow – Envoy

But even rotational deployments could lead to unintended hostilities. Last month, Russia’s Permanent Envoy to NATO Alexander Grushko stressed the need for the alliance to stop its buildup near Russia’s borders.

"If NATO really wants to resume the dialogue on arms control, on strengthening Europe’s stability and security on the basis of those developments, which for a long enough period served as the basis for maintaining stability in Europe, they should stop the process of strengthening its military presence along our borders," he told the Rossiya-24 television channel.

"All [forces] that were sent to and have been rotating along our borders must be returned to the place of permanent deployment."

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