US-Truppen „nach Osteuropa“: Der Wortlaut

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Die Aussagen der US-Regierung, in nächster Zeit Truppen nach Osteuropa zu verlegen, werden in der aktuellen angespannten Lage sehr genau beobachtet: Wie viele, wohin, und vor allem wofür? Zur Dokumentation deshalb die jüngsten Aussagen aus Washington mit ein wenig Kontext.

In erster Linie bestimmen am (heutigen) Samstag die Aussagen die Schlagzeilen, die US-Präsident Joe Biden am Freitagabend (Ortszeit) in den USA machte. Die sind hinreichend knapp, wie aus der Mitschrift des Weißen Hauses hervorgeht:

Q Any update on the situation in Ukraine?

THE PRESIDENT: No, not in the last couple hours.

Q Have you decided how soon you would be moving U.S. troops to Eastern Europe?

THE PRESIDENT: I’ll be moving U.S. troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term — not a lot.

Was auch immer not a lot bedeutet (offiziell ist bislang von bis zu 8.500 Soldatinnen und Soldaten in erhöhter Alarmbereitschaft die Rede): Aussagekräftiger sind da die Details, die Verteidigungsminister Lloyd Austin und Generalstabschef Mark Milley wenige Stunden zuvor genannt hatten. Aus dem Transkript ihrer Pressekonferenz dazu wesentliche Passagen:

Austin: First, conflict is not inevitable. There is still time and space for diplomacy. The United States, in lockstep with our allies and partners, has offered Russia a path away from crisis and toward greater security, and the Department of Defense will continue to support those diplomatic efforts.
Second, the United States remains committed to helping Ukraine defend itself through security assistance material, and since 2014, we’ve committed more than $2.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. That includes more security assistance to Ukraine in the past year, $650 million, than at any previous time.
And so in December, President Biden authorized $200 million in assistance, which included additional Javelins and other anti-armor weapons, grenade launchers, large quantities of artillery and small arms ammunition and other equipment. Those deliveries are ongoing. Indeed, another shipment just arrived today.
And third, the United States will stand shoulder to shoulder with our NATO allies. That includes reinforcing security on NATO’s Eastern Flank, and as you know, we’ve placed thousands of U.S. troops on prepare to deploy orders earlier this week. If NATO activates its response forces, these troops will be ready to go.

Hier ist der letzte Satz entscheidend, und das zieht sich auch weiter durch diese Pressekonferenz: Die rund 8.500 Soldatinnen und Soldaten, die die US-Streitkräfte in erhöhte Alarmbereitschaft versetzt haben, sollen der NATO Response Force zugeordnet werden – damit, so die Aussage, ist ihre Entsendung nicht allein eine Entscheidung der USA, sondern eine gemeinsame Entscheidung aller 30 Bündnismitglieder. Inwieweit das mit der Aussage des Präsidenten zusammenpasst Ich werde in nächster Zeit US-Truppen nach Europa in Marsch setzen, ist eine interessante Frage, auf die es bislang anscheinend keine klare Antwort gibt.

Dabei betonen sowohl Verteidigungsminister Austin als auch der oberste General der USA auffallend deutlich, dass es um Unterstützung von NATO-Partnern geht. Austin zielt sogar eindeutig ab auf  Artikel 5, die Beistandsverpflichtung der NATO. Die wiederum setzt die Ausrufung des Bündnisfalls voraus, den ebenfalls alle 30 Mitglieder der Allianz gemeinsam beschließen müssen. Von diesem Bündnisfall ist jedoch, zumindest bislang, in der NATO und auch in den europäischen Mitgliedsländern vorerst nicht die Rede.

Aus Austins Aussagen:

As we’ve made clear, in addition to the significant economic and diplomatic costs that Russia will incur, a move on Ukraine will accomplish the very thing Russia says it does not want — a NATO alliance strengthened and resolved on its Western Flank.
The United States will contribute to NATO’s response forces and we will coordinate with our NATO allies, we will make sure that they have the capabilities that they need to defend themselves. Article 5 is clear on this point — an attack against one NATO member is an attack against us all. And as President Biden has said, the United States holds this as a sacred obligation and we will do right by that commitment. (…)
We haven’t actually moved any troops; we’ve put troops on higher alert. And the second point that I would make is that even if and when we do move troops, the purpose of those troops deploying would be to reassure allies or directly in support of NATO, or both. (…)
In terms of our reassurance efforts, as you know, we have had a number of forces in the region in training with the Eastern European countries. Those forces — and that’s been going on for quite some time, and those forces provide great value. Just their presence reassures our partners there that we’re interested in them, interested in helping them. The types of things we do with them routinely is train with them and enable them and really increase their level of readiness. And so that’s been very helpful to them, and it has strengthened our bonds with our allies and partners in the region.
These are temporary deployments, and so again, we will continue to sort this out as we go forward. But again, we are focused on NATO. We’re focused on reassuring our allies, and that’s what this is all about. (…)
Again, our focus is on making sure that we’re ready to live up to our commitment to NATO, should the NATO Response Force be activated by NATO. This putting our forces on a shorter string enables us to get there in a shorter period of time.
And again, I think that provides reassurance to NATO that we’re ready to live up to our commitments.

Und Milley:

As the secretary of defense has noted, we continue to provide military material support to Ukraine along with many other countries from NATO, and we are ready, capable and prepared to uphold our obligation under treaty to NATO, as mentioned by the secretary. An attack against one NATO ally is an attack against all.
NATO has significant military capability. NATO has approximately 130-plus brigades of maneuver forces, not including U.S. forces, 93 squadrons of high-end fighters, four carriers, many more surface combatants. The military capability of NATO is very, very significant.
In addition to bordering Russia and Belarus and Moldova, Ukraine has a border with four NATO members: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. The president and the secretary of defense have authorized the United States military to increase our readiness in the event we have to reinforce or assist our NATO allies. War is not inevitable, as the secretary said. The right answer here is a diplomatic solution. (…)
We haven’t deployed anybody. We haven’t moved anybody yet. We’re just increasing our readiness levels. And I think in terms of your question about provocation with respect to Russia, that would depend on the size, scale, scope and type of forces that were deployed as to whether or not that was provocative to Russia. We certainly have no intent whatsoever that I’m aware of of putting offensive forces to attack Russia, and I don’t think that’s NATO’s intent at all. This is entirely engineered by Russia and President Putin as an overt act of coercion against Ukraine.

Unterm Strich lässt das noch etliche Fragen offen. Dass US-Truppen bei einem russischen Einmarsch in die Ukraine dort nicht aktiv werden, scheint als US-Position gesetzt. Welcher Mechanismus aber nötig ist, um die erwogene Truppenverstärkung für Europa auf den Weg zu bringen, das bleibt unklar: Einfach eine Verlegeentscheidung des US-Präsidenten – oder zuvor (auch formale) Schritte der NATO wie die Aktivierung der NATO Response Force oder gar die Ausrufung des Bündnisfalls?

(Archivbild Juni 2020: U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, arrive at Albrecht Duerer Airport Nuernberg for a nine-month rotation in support of Atlantic Resolve – U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Alleea Oliver)