DHAKA: The US will deploy about 600 troops for training exercises in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to reassure NATO and regional allies adjacent to Russia.

A pro-Russian activist walks in front a barricade set up outside the regional administrative building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on April 21.

The US will send hundreds of troops to East Europe for training exercises, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, as the Americans look to reassure nervous allies near Russia.

The US will deploy roughly 600 troops already stationed in Europe to Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said on Tuesday, reports time.com.

The troops will be replaced with new units within about a month, and the US expects to maintain a presence for at least the remainder of the year, he said.

‘The message is to the people of Poland and Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia that the United States takes seriously our obligations,’ Kirby said.

The US is aiming to reassure allies in the region amid tensions on Ukraine’s eastern border, where Russia has amassed thousands of troops since it annexed the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea.

BDST: 2000 HRS, APR 23, 2014