Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis has suggested sending EU troops to Ukraine in light of North Korean soldiers joining Russian forces. He emphasized the need to revisit French President Macron's earlier proposal for troop deployment, which had been dismissed by Germany. Landsbergis expressed frustration over Europe's passive response and urged for necessary actions against the increasing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
https://www.politico.eu/article/north-korea-troops-ukraine-eu-russia-war-defense-global-affairs/
Nothing prevents Lithuania from sending troops, regardless of what other (NATO)-countries do. In the case of invidual support by one or more countries, like France, NATO would not be directly involved.
I am sure USA and Britain would be more comfortable with that kind of support.
@JoostThissen @noelreports Individual countries, especially those bordering with Russia, don't want to send troops alone. They are afraid that Russia will retaliate and NATO will say "sorry, we won't defend you because you sent troops, so this isn't pure self defense".
NATO could make this an official NATO operation, even if only few NATO countries send soldiers.
Making any action against Russia an official NATO operation is that red line that Biden and Scholz don't want to cross: if Russia retaliates on the territory of such a state, all NATO allies would be obliged to defend that state.
This has always been a bridge too far.
@JoostThissen @elgregor @noelreports
There are very good reasons to not have NATO and the Kremlin get into a hot war.
Most people do not seem to comprehend the catastrophic risks that we have managed to avoid happening and that's almost as scary as is nuclear holocaust since it displays such ignorance about realpolitik yet they are still willing to push the notion that their opinions are more informed than are the experts.
@GreenFire @JoostThissen @noelreports NATO troops shouldn't go to the front. They could help guard the rear areas, shoot down missiles, provide logistics, etc.
Most people do not comprehend that Russia's thought process is fundamentally different from western one. An example from Russian side: Girkin was surprised that Polish troops have neither attacked Ukraine to annex its western part, nor arrived to fight Russian soldiers. 1/2
@elgregor @JoostThissen @noelreports
You are wrong about the intentions of the USA. There are a lot of Americans with different attitudes toward Russia and China.
The bottom line is that the USA does not want to be in charge of a war in Europe and is waiting for Europeans to finally decide what they want to do about the Kremlin. We are helping out the best way we can.
@GreenFire @JoostThissen @noelreports On the western side, people think that Russia will suddenly nuke everyone because a NATO plane shot down a Russian drone over Ukraine. No, as long as there is no NATO threat to Russia proper, Russia won't do such a thing. Of course they will keep threatening to do it, because they know gullible people believe it.
US doesn't do too much because of internal politics and wanting to keep moderately good relations with Russia because of potential war with China.