Amazed: the US is curtailing security assistance programs in the Baltic States — FT

The United States plans to curtail security assistance programs for Eastern European countries. This is reported by the Financial Times (FT), citing sources.

"Representatives of the Pentagon last week informed European diplomats that the United States would no longer fund programs for training and equipping military personnel in Eastern European countries who would be on the front line in any conflict with Russia," the publication said, quoted by Kommersant.

The Pentagon did not tell lawmakers the exact amount it is going to gradually reduce, however, according to experts, funding could be cut by hundreds of millions of dollars. The move is consistent with U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to "reassess and redistribute" foreign aid, an unnamed White House official said.

According to sources, the decision was coordinated with European countries. European governments "have been startled by this message" and are "trying to get additional details from Washington," two diplomats said.

One of the reasons for the above decision was the Pentagon's desire to move US defense resources to the Indo-Pacific region "in order to strengthen deterrence and reduce the likelihood of conflict with China over Taiwan," the newspaper writes.

According to the US Government Accountability Office, from 2018 to 2022, $1.6 billion was allocated for the implementation of the program in Europe. This is about 29% of the costs for all countries. The main recipients of assistance are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

At the same time, another program — Foreign Military Financing, which allows countries to acquire large weapons — airplanes, ships, tanks — does not fall under the reduction.