US troop withdrawal from Europe would be ‘rational, long-overdue’ step for stability: Russia

Responding to a question at a press briefing in Moscow, Zakharova said withdrawing US forces from Europe, stationed there for decades under the pretext of a “Russian threat,” would be a rational, long-overdue step toward stabilizing the continent’s military-political situation.

At the same time, Moscow argued that Washington ties its planned force reconfiguration to European allies’ “reliability,” including their willingness to boost military spending and buy American weapons.

According to her, those actions are directed against Russia, and therefore, such a scenario would deepen confrontation between Moscow and the Western bloc and further intensify military tensions in Europe.

Zakharova also warned against the possible redeployment of US military bases and troops from less “reliable” countries to Central and Eastern European states considered more aligned with Washington’s policies, including Poland.

She explained that in this case, the deployment of additional American military infrastructure close to Russia’s western borders would force Moscow to adopt “necessary military-technical measures to ensure national security.”

She added that such steps could lead to a “qualitative escalation” of military tensions across Europe amid “an increasingly provocative policy by European allies of the US toward Moscow.”

Asked whether the discovery of a Ukrainian drone with a US Starlink system at the site of a May 22 attack in Starobilsk constitutes an act of aggression that could trigger the cancellation of the Moscow Declaration on not targeting US cities with strategic nuclear weapons, Zakharova said Russia’s strategic nuclear forces remain on constant alert, ready to carry out combat missions immediately upon receiving such an order.

“As a result, a potential adversary is forced to reckon with the fact that the reliability of Russian nuclear deterrence is ensured at any moment and under any circumstances,” she said.