Dangerous games: The US is sending Vladimir Putin a message

U.S. military vehicles paraded 300 yards from the Russian border

By Michael Birnbaum 

The United States, Estonia and NATO, just sent a message to Russia.

A convoy of vehicles, a flotilla of ships, a military plane flight – all send messages. This message is loud, it is clear but the intended recipient might be too hard headed to comprehend. Perhaps the proper phrase is too arrogant. Perhaps the message is too little, too late, but the US is sending Vladimir Putin a message. Back off.


U.S. military combat vehicles paraded Wednesday through an Estonian city that juts into Russia, a symbolic act that highlighted the stakes for both sides amid the worst tensions between the West and Russia since the Cold War.

The armored personnel carriers and other U.S. Army vehicles that rolled through the streets of Narva, a border city separated by a narrow frontier from Russia, were a dramatic reminder of the new military confrontation in Eastern Europe.

The soldiers from the U.S. Army’s Second Cavalry Regiment were taking part in a military parade to mark Estonia’s Independence Day. Narva is a vulnerable border city separated by a river from Russia. It has often been cited as a potential target for the Kremlin if it wanted to escalate its conflict with the West onto NATO territory.

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