U.S. to Move Troops to Allies Near Russia as Tensions Flare in Eastern Ukraine - WSJ.com

WSJ.COM 04.22.2014

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that U.S. troops would be sent for exercises in Eastern Europe to reassure allies on Russia's border, after Ukraine accused pro-Russian separatists of torturing and killing two people and shooting at one of its military planes.

The flareup in tension over Ukraine's eastern region came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned Russia to pull back its troops and abide by last week's multilateral deal reached in Geneva or face the prospect of new sanctions.

Mr. Biden, who met in Kiev with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and other Ukrainian officials, said the U.S. won't allow that deal, intended to immediately begin easing tensions, to instead become "an open-ended process."

"It is time for Russia to stop talking and start acting—act on the commitments they made," Mr. Biden said. "We need to see these kinds of concrete steps," he added. "Time is short in which to make progress."

In Washington, U.S. defense officials said they are sending 600 U.S. troops to four North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in Eastern Europe for a series of military exercises close to Russia.

The military companies, each numbering about 150 troops, from the 173rd Infantry Brigade, based in Italy, should begin arriving this weekend in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.

The exercises won't involve Ukraine, which is not a NATO member. Adm. Kirby said they are meant to show the U.S. resolve to fulfill its obligations under the NATO charter.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov called for a renewal of his government's stalled military operation in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian forces have taken over several cities.

His call was prompted in part by the discovery of two bodies in the rebel-held city of Slovyansk, which has emerged as a paramilitary hub of the separatists. One of the two dead men was apparently a local member of the Ukrainian president's political party; both had apparently been "brutally tortured" before being killed, Mr. Turchynov said.

"The terrorists, who have taken the whole region hostage, have crossed the line when they started to torture and kill Ukraine patriots," Mr. Turchynov said.

The local politician, Volodymyr Rybak, had disappeared days earlier when a car pulled up alongside him as he was walking down the street of his hometown of Horlivka, near Slovyansk, according to a local press report. The identity of the other victim was not immediately known.

Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the separatist-appointed mayor of Slovyansk, said the corpse found in a river was possibly that of Mr. Rybak, but denied any rebel role in his death. He blamed Ukrainian nationalists for the killing, while citing no evidence.

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