President Joe Biden may reportedly sent thousands of U.S. troops, along with warships and aircraft, to Eastern Europe and the Balkans over fears of a Russian invasion.
The option was one of several presented by Pentagon officials to Biden at a weekend Camp David meeting, the New York Times reported, citing administration officials. A meeting of top U.S. and Russian diplomats on Friday appeared to yield little progress, though both sides have pledged to continue talking.
The plan would involve 1,000 to 5,000 U.S. troops initially, then ten times that if conditions worsen, with a decision expected as early as this week.
Over the weekend, the U.S. ordered families of American embassy personnel in Ukraine to leave amid worries over a potential invasion. That’s as the U.K.’s foreign office accused Moscow of seeking to replace Ukraine’s pro-estern government with a pro-Russian administration, an accusation the Kremlin has rejected.
The weekslong standoff comes after Russia shifted of 100,000 troops near Ukraine amid what it sees as security threats from Western powers and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The tensions have weighed on Russian-themed investments, with the VanEck Russia exchange-traded fund
RSX,
off more than 13% so far in January, while the Russian ruble
USDRUB,
has lost 3.7% versus the U.S. dollar in January.
Read: How a Russian invasion of Ukraine could trigger market shock waves