(VOVworld) - The United States plans to store heavy military equipment in the Baltics and Eastern European nations to reassure allies made uneasy by Russian intervention in Ukraine, and to deter further aggression, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday.

Stryker vehicles from the Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment took part in a military exercise in Riga, Latvia (Photo: Associated Press)

According to the New York Times report, the Pentagon was poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 troops which are equivalent to the number of weapons the US kept in Kuwait for more than 10 years after Iraq attacked this country. But so far, the US Department of Defense has made no details on this plan. The New York Times said this proposal needs to be approved by the US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and the White House prior to the defense ministers’ meeting of NATO countries to be held this month in Brussels, Belgium.