Russia reacted with caution Tuesday to President George W. Bush's historic vow to pull 70,000 troops from Europe and Asia in Washington's biggest military reorganization in 50 years, saying it wanted to see the details of the plan.Moscow is concerned that as the NATO alliance expands, the United States will station troops in the former Soviet Baltic republics. It further continues to worry over the future presence of Western troops in the energy-rich Central Asian region where Russia once dominated.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that "our view of these plans will depend on the spelled-out details, and whether they pose a danger to Russia's national interests."
Moscow's statement stressed that it expected Washington to adhere to previous agreements that, in Moscow's view, ban the United States from stationing its troops in the Baltics or the Caucasus.
The three Baltic states, admitted into NATO in March, to Russia's fury have never signed on to the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) agreement, a Cold War era pact that puts restraints on the number of troops and armaments based in the region.
The Baltic republics were still a part of the Soviet Union when the agreement was signed, and are thus not technically covered by the pact and could theoretically be home to extra US troops.
The Moscow statement said it also expected the United States to "shut down" its bases in Central Asia once its military campaign in Afghanistan, which the Kremlin has backed, will end.
Bush made no direct mention of Russia as he delivered a speech that vowed to create "a more agile and flexible force" and that between 60,000 and 70,000 troops would return to the United States along with about 100,000 civilian employees and families of soldiers.
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