US defense Secretary mark Esper decided to transfer $274 million, aimed at building several facilities in Europe to deter “Russian aggression”, to the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. This is reported by the defense News portal on April 28, with reference to an explanatory note sent by Esper acting Deputy defense Minister Elaine McCusker.
The note, photos of which are cited by the portal, refers to the suspension of 19 projects, in particular, in Norway, Germany, Spain and a number of other countries.
In total, Esper plans to transfer $545.5 million to the us Department of construction for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico.
The portal notes that in General, about $1 billion planned for projects under the “European deterrence initiative” program, the construction of infrastructure for military aircraft, fuel and ammunition-can be used for other purposes.
The Pentagon claims that the planned projects have only been postponed. Democrats in the White house have criticized US President Donald trump for his “wasteful” border wall, the construction of which he puts above “real national security needs.”
In September 2019, the American leader redistributed $771 million to “deter Russian aggression” from this European program to the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. At the time, Democrats also criticized the move.
One of the main points of trump’s election program was the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico to combat illegal migrants and the spread of drugs.
In February 2019, the American President introduced a state of emergency in the country to get about $6.4 billion to implement the plan. However, his opponents agreed to allocate only $1.4 billion for the wall.
