MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Thursday, Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that Washington used the Western hysteria around the joint Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 drills and "quietly" deployed 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team in Poland along with its own equipment, while the military equipment of the US 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team has not been removed, thus deploying a de-facto mechanized division near the Russian border and violating the NATO-Russia Founding Act.
Speaking about the need to deploy US troops in the region, George Szamuely, a senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute of London Metropolitan University, told Sputnik that there is no threat posed by Russia.
"No, there absolutely isn’t, because there is no threat whatsoever. No conceivable threat, no imaginable threat whatsoever from Russia. Russia [is giving no] indication of any kind of intent to invade any country in the world, least of all its neighboring countries. So, there is no threat," Szamuely said.
"The clashes on the Polish border could become real in the event that something in Syria gets out of control, or again, something in Ukraine gets out of control," he said.
The London Metropolitan University expert added that in contrast to the situation in the United States, where the politicians and media outlets were claiming that Moscow was the enemy of Washington, Russia had never said that the United States was its enemy, but always claimed that it was a partner of Moscow.
Szamuely's words were echoed by US writer and political analyst Stephen Lendman.
"America systematically surrounded Russia and China with military bases. Having them close to their borders poses a serious threat, along with provocative military exercises near them. Since WWII, no nation anywhere has threatened America. Pursuing its imperial agenda requires enemies. None exist so they’re invented, including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela plus all theaters where Washington is waging wars against sovereign states threatening no one," the expert told Sputnik.
The political analyst added that the possibility of confrontation existed, but only if instigated by Washington, however Russia would exert maximum efforts to avoid such an escalation.
According to the expert, the network of US bases was established in order to reach global dominance and to implement the country's plans aimed at replacing the sovereign governments with the ones controlled by Washington.
