Such signals were to be received, among others, by: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They were conveyed during bilateral meetings. It is not known whether similar suggestions were also made to other European capitals.
As Reuters writes, the case coincided with the renewed attempt by the Donald Trump administration to end the full-scale war in Ukraine. US actions are to include both incentives for Russia, including the possibility of easing sanctions, and pressure on Ukraine to limit attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
The Pentagon did not directly comment on this information. His representative said: "Private conversations between allies remain private, which is why we do not comment on these reports."
"Do not provoke" Moscow
American reservations allegedly concerned, among other things, statements in which European leaders presented Russia as a country besieged and taking increasingly desperate actions because of the difficulties on the Ukrainian front.
One of the officials conveying such a position was Elbridge Colby, the head of policy at the Pentagon. He is involved in analyzing the future US military presence in Europe.
According to one source, Colby recently told a representative of the Baltic states that there should be "no provocation" against the Russians. He allegedly pointed to public comparisons of Russia to a "cornered rat" as an example of inappropriate language.
It was not established which specific statement he was referring to. However, at the end of September, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal described Vladimir Putin as a "rat in the corner", suggesting that Russia is stuck in a war with Ukraine and is resorting to sabotage in Europe.
Another European official, describing private Pentagon communications, summed them up as: "We are helping you. The Americans are there. Just don't be loud. Don't make a noise."
During a separate meeting, the Estonian delegation was told by Pentagon representatives that it should exercise "moderation" in public communication. However, no specific words were indicated that were supposed to raise objections. The defense ministries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia did not respond to questions from Reuters, and NATO declined to comment. According to four agency sources (three from Europe and one from the US), the US suggestions were not conveyed to Europeans in a confrontational manner.
Dispute over how to talk about the threat
According to Reuters, the case highlights differences within NATO over how to publicly describe Russia's policies. Some Western representatives believe that strongly emphasizing the threat may favor the Kremlin, which - in their opinion - wants to arouse concern and weaken support for Ukraine.
Others, however, argue that European societies should be informed about the scale of the risk. This is intended to make it easier to justify the greater expenditure and effort needed to contain Russia, especially given the information that Moscow is intensifying its sabotage activities in Europe. Russia denies conducting such a campaign.
One of the European officials said that the Pentagon's position is incomprehensible because the services of the Baltic states have in recent months rather limited their assessment of the likelihood of a Russian attack on a NATO country. In turn, other intelligence services of the Alliance countries warned that Russian sabotage activities may soon increase significantly.
The background is also the talks between the US and Russia about possible business agreements that are to accompany Washington's efforts for peace in Ukraine. This is causing mixed reactions in Europe, as many countries support further economic isolation of the Kremlin.
The Pentagon is also checking where and how many American soldiers are stationed in Europe. It is possible that the US will reduce its military presence on the continent. Washington also expects that European NATO countries will take greater care of their own security, because the US is focusing its attention on other regions of the world: the Middle East, Latin America and East Asia.
