Ukraine conflict: US tanks in Baltics as Nato drills start

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31813939

Hundreds of US military vehicles have arrived in the Baltic states and are to stay in Europe, in a mission to reassure Nato allies unsettled by Russia's actions in Ukraine.

The shipment coincides with the deployment of a US infantry division and Nato navy drills in the Black Sea.

Although a ceasefire is in place in Ukraine, the conflict has heightened distrust between Russia and the West.

Russia said on Tuesday it was pulling out of a European arms control pact.
'Escalating confrontation'

The Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, signed in 1990 as the Cold War was coming to an end, was originally aimed at limiting the numbers of tanks, combat aircraft and heavy artillery between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural mountains in Russia.

Russia had already suspended involvement in 2007, and the foreign ministry in Moscow said the practical work of the treaty's consultative group in Vienna had been almost entirely wound down.