Hagel: U.S. to Increase Military Support to Poland, Baltic

The United States will expand military cooperation with Poland and Baltic states to show "support" for its allies after Russia's intervention in Ukraine, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said Wednesday.

The moves to expand aviation training in Poland and step up the U.S. role in NATO's air patrols over Baltic countries were clearly designed to reassure alliance partners in Central and Eastern Europe who are alarmed over Russia's actions in the Crimean peninsula.

"This morning the Defense Department is pursuing measures to support our allies," including increased training in Poland and more U.S. aircraft in NATO's air policing mission over Baltic states, Hagel told lawmakers.

NATO's top commander and head of the U.S. European Command, General Philip Breedlove, also planned to confer with Central and Eastern European defense chiefs, Hagel said.

"This is a time for wise, steady, and firm leadership," Hagel told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"It is a time for all of us to stand with the Ukrainian people in support of their territorial integrity and sovereignty, and their right to have a government that fulfills the aspirations of its people."

At the same hearing, General Martin Dempsey, the U.S. military's top-ranking officer, said he had spoken to his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov earlier Wednesday, urging "restraint."

"I conveyed to him the degree to which Russia's territorial aggression has been repudiated globally. I urged continued restraint in the days ahead, in order to preserve room for a diplomatic solution," the general said.

The United States has a small team of about 10 airmen stationed in Poland to support military training efforts while NATO has been conducting air patrols over the skies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for ten years.

The responsibility for the air patrols rotates every four months and the United States recently took over from Belgium in January. Four U.S. F-16 fighter jets are currently assigned to the air patrols and the Pentagon is considering adding more aircraft to the operation, a U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Agence France Presse.

In Poland, U.S. aviation training involves F-16 fighters and C-130 transport planes and more aircraft may be added to the effort, the official said.

The United States already has suspended all military cooperation with Russia in protest over events in Ukraine, calling off planned exercises, training and exchanges.

Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had also spoken this week to military chiefs in the Baltics and in Central and Eastern Europe.

"Understandably, they are concerned. They seek our assurance for their security," he said.

"During our conversations we committed to developing options to provide those assurances and to deter further Russian aggression," the four-star general said.

Leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia said Tuesday they were "shocked" by Russia's actions in Ukraine, saying it resembled Soviet crackdowns in their countries during the Cold War.

NATO held rare emergency meetings this week after Poland requested "article 4" consultations in light of the crisis in Ukraine, where pro-Russian forces have taken de facto control over the Crimean peninsula.

Under article 4 of the alliance treaty, any NATO member can request consultations when they believe their territorial integrity, political independence or security are threatened.