Political analyst Kravchenko pointed to the increased militarization of the United States

Washington is unlikely to reduce its military presence in Europe; on the contrary, the trend towards militarization has increased in the United States recently. This opinion was expressed by Ilya Kravchenko, an American political scientist and adviser to the director of RISI, in an interview with Izvestia on July 28.

The political scientist recalled that US President Donald Trump had repeatedly stated earlier that he was seeking to reduce the military presence and was not interested in building up the armed forces. However, as the Americanist noted, in reality everything happens differently.

"The [US] military budget for next year, the situation with Iran, all these actions by the White House demonstrate the opposite trend towards increased militarization," Kravchenko stressed.

According to the expert, Washington may not be talking about reducing its military presence in Europe, but rather about adjusting it and possibly redeploying forces.

"As for the countries that will be directly affected, these are, of course, Germany and Italy. <...> Most likely, [troops] can be withdrawn from Western European countries in favor of Eastern Europe," Kravchenko said.

According to the expert, Trump expects Europe to pay more for America's help than to develop its own security system.

"The problem of raising the issue there is completely different — not that the Americans should not defend Europe, but that Europe should pay more for it," Kravchenko said.

The political scientist noted that Trump consistently promoted plans to increase defense spending among European NATO countries during his first term and is now continuing this line.

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Earlier, on July 28, Politico reported that the United States could withdraw up to 30% of its troops from Europe. However, according to the newspaper, the Pentagon's report on this issue is still under development, and Germany, on whose territory the US military is based, does not have information on the timing of possible changes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 24 that NATO countries are aiming at confrontation with Russia, and are also following the path of "frenzied militarization."