March 24, 2015: People gather around an
Cavalry Regiment "Stryker" armoured fighting vehicle in
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(Fox) --- One of the last American
combat units stationed in Europe is asking the government for bigger guns amid
rising tensions over Russia ’s
involvement in the Ukraine
conflict.
The 2nd Cavalry
Regiment is requesting that 81 of its 8-wheel-drive Stryker infantry carrier
vehicles be equipped with 30-mm. automatic cannons -- double the caliber of the
12.7-mm. guns they already carry, the military news website Breaking Defense
reports.
The House Armed
Services committee is already setting aside money for the upgrade, which the
Army approved Wednesday, according to a memo obtained by the website.
The upgraded
cannons would give the Strykers added firepower against other light-armoured
vehicles.
The 2nd Cavalry
Regiment, based in Vilseck , Germany , had been deployed to the Baltic States
to deter aggression following Russia ’s
seizure of Ukraine ’s Crimea region, Breaking Defense reports.
NATO's chief on
Thursday reported a sizeable Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine that he
said would enable pro-Moscow separatists to launch a new offensive with little
warning.
NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia has substantially stepped up
supplies to the rebels, as well as providing them with advanced training and
equipment like drones, despite a cease-fire.
Making an
accusation of their own, Russian officials said U.S. military instructors were
training Ukrainian national guardsmen in urban fighting techniques in the same
eastern regions where Ukrainian forces and separatists have been fighting for
the past year.
In Washington , the U.S. State Department rejected the
Russian claim of U.S.
trainers in eastern Ukraine ,
saying all the activity was in western Ukraine
near the border with Poland .
"We've been
doing this for about 20 years now," State Department spokeswoman Marie
Harf told reporters, calling the Russian statement "ridiculous."
Stoltenberg said
the reported Russian moves undermine the cease-fire declared in eastern Ukraine and violate the Minsk
agreements entered into by Moscow .
He said more than 1,000 pieces of Russian military equipment have been moved
over the past month, including tanks, artillery and air defense units.
Stoltenberg said
this "gives reason for great concern" and would enable the
separatists to go on the offensive again with little warning.
He said the
U.S.-led defense alliance is not certain about the intentions of Moscow and the
pro-Russian rebels, "but we are certain about the capabilities."
The claim from
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Gen.-Maj. Igor Konashenkov that U.S. trainers are active in disputed areas of
eastern Ukraine came one day
after the U.S. State Department accused Russia
of deploying air-defense systems in eastern Ukraine and combined
Russia-separatist forces of maintaining artillery and rocket launchers in
violation of the shaky cease-fire deal.
Konashenkov denied
those claims, and said U.S.
military instructors are working in the vicinity of the cities of Mariupol,
Artemivsk and Volnovakha.
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