WASHINGTON — The Republican chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are speaking out against the Trump administration’s decision to pull back some U.S. troops from Romania, along NATO’s eastern border near Ukraine.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., are taking issue with the fact that Congress was not consulted and arguing the move appears “directly at odds” with the president’s strategy with Russia amid the war.
”We strongly oppose the decision not to maintain the rotational U.S. brigade in Romania and the Pentagon’s process for its ongoing force posture review that may result in further drawdowns of U.S. forces from Eastern Europe,” Wicker and Rogers said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The statement went on to ask for “clarification” from the Pentagon on whether the move was coordinated with NATO allies and how it plans to ensure it does not negatively impact the military alliance’s defense capabilities. They also made clear they want assurances that two armored brigades currently in Poland remain in place.
The U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a press release Wednesday that the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division will leave Europe’s Eastern flank to return to its home unit in Kentucky, as was previously scheduled, but with no new U.S. troops set to be sent in their place.
The press release from the Army insisted that the move should not be seen as an “American withdrawal from Europe or a signal of lessened commitment to NATO” and that it will not impact security in the region. The statement also cited Trump’s calls for European countries to take “primary responsibility” for the continent’s security, as the president has argued other countries should be shouldering more of the burden than the U.S. in regard to the war in Ukraine.
In their statement, Wicker and Roger noted their agreement with the added weight Europe should be carrying but also argued the decision runs counter to President Donald Trump’s own goals when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine. The pair said the move sends “the wrong signal to Russia” and noting it comes at a time when the commander in chief is seeking to turn up the heat on the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, to come to the negotiating table.
“The President has it exactly right: now is the time for America to demonstrate our resolve against Russian aggression,” the Republicans wrote, in a notable comment given some in the GOP’s frustration with the amount of aid given to Ukraine by the U.S. “Unfortunately, the Pentagon’s decision appears uncoordinated and directly at odds with the President’s strategy.”
Trump has also referred to the conflict in the past as belonging to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Democratic former U.S. President Joe Biden.
Trump has made clear his desire for the more than 3½ -year-old war to come to an end and often laments that it has been much harder to solve than he initially thought. He said as a candidate in 2024 that he could end the war on his first day back in office. His stance on assistance for Ukraine has at times been unclear and his relationship with the war-torn country’s president has been shaky in the past, although both Trump and NATO have touted a recent agreement for European countries to buy U.S.-produced weapons to then be given to Ukraine. And recently, Trump has expressed increasing frustration with Putin, canceling a potential in-person summit with him in Hungary and hitting two of Russia’s largest oil companies with new sanctions.
Wicker and Rogers also pointed out the decision to pull back the troops comes after other countries in the region — including Poland, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Romania, according to NATO — have seen Russia violate their airspace in recent weeks. In a statement last month, NATO referred to the violation in Estonia as “part of a wider pattern of increasingly irresponsible Russian behaviour.”
The Republicans argued the timing of the withdrawal “undermines deterrence and risks inviting further Russian aggression.”
Under Article 5 of the military alliance’s treaty, the U.S. would be expected to help defend any NATO ally that Russia could theoretically pursue. Ukraine is not a member of NATO.
The pair of Republicans also said it was “concerning” that Congress was not involved in the decision, arguing there is “clear, bipartisan, and bicameral support” among lawmakers for a strong force presence in Europe.
In a statement Wednesday, Romania’s defense ministry said the country was informed of the decision by the U.S. and stressed the two countries are regularly in communication. It added that about 1,000 American soldiers will remain deployed in Romania to “contribute to the deterrence of any threats and will represent a guarantee of the US commitment to regional security.”
