title: re serbian culture
text: sputnik october   
  nato and washingtons activities in eastern europe and the baltics de facto amount to permanent military presence sergei ermakov a senior analyst at the russian institute for strategic studies told rt adding that we have seen only the tip of the iceberg so far endless wargames and rotational deployments essentially amount to permanent military presence nato is testing a drastic military buildup we have witnessed the alliance deploy expeditionary forces and assault troops to eastern europe these are offensive not defensive forces what we have seen is only the tip of the iceberg ermakov said 
  the north atlantic alliance has pledged to refrain from deploying substantial forces along the natorussia border on a permanent basis but has been increasingly active in the region the bloc approved its largest military buildup in eastern europe and the baltics since the end of the cold war at the  warsaw summit a development viewed with deep concern in moscow 
  as part of this initiative canada germany the uk and the us will establish and lead four battle groups expected to be deployed in poland estonia latvia and lithuania each will total up to  soldiers these battalions are said to become operational in early  the alliance has justified its massive buildup by blaming russia for its ostensibly assertive behavior moscow has consistently denied these groundless claims 
  ermakov further explained that forces of natos european members are not as lethal as they might seem on paper this is a force exceeding russias military potential by several times but it lacks real combat power this is why americans need to be everywhere the us was forced to boost us european commands budget he said 
  earlier this year the pentagon requested bn for its operations in europe in  a fourtime increase compared to its million budget this year a d v e r t i s e m e n t 
  russian officials and experts have repeatedly pointed out that nato increasing assertiveness has put regional stability at risk 
  the blocs muscle flexing and aggressive rhetoric greatly reduce european security and the chances for a revival of constructive dialogue between russia and nato something russia has been calling for so many years instead the bloc is doing its best to provoke an arms race with unpredictable results peter korzun an expert on wars and conflicts wrote for the strategic culture foundation ermakov also said that the united states wants to increase its presence in the black sea region to counter russia americans can no longer count on turkey due to the failed coup attempt ankara has become a complicated partner washington is instead focusing on bulgaria and romania he said 
  nato secretary general jens stoltenberg mentioned romania during a press conference held following the latest meeting of natos defense ministers he said that romanian troops will join the usled battle group in poland he also said that the ministers discussed progress made in strengthening natos presence in the black sea region in the air at sea and on land this initiative will include among other things a romanianled multinational framework brigade on land he observed providing no additional information on the subject 
  ermakov further said that washington also wants to counter russia in central asia and the asiapacific region this article was posted thursday october   at  am share this article