Two days before Donald Trump signed a stopgap spending bill, ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Aliaksei Bialiajeu, dean of the journalism faculty at Belarusian State University, spoke about its impact on the European Union. Appearing on the “Budni” talk show on Alfa Radio and SBTV on November 11, he claimed that Europeans are so dependent on Washington that during the funding freeze of U.S. government agencies they were footing the bill for American troops stationed at U.S. bases in Europe:
“Lithuania and Poland picked up the costs — feeding and supporting all those American forces, the U.S. bases in Lithuania, the U.S. bases in Poland. That’s a clear, unmistakable sign of total dependence. Because in some European countries — stronger, wealthier, more independent — officials basically said, ‘Those are your bases, so you figure out how to feed your American soldiers.’”
Several Russian media outlets, echoing Aliaksei Bialiajeu, reported that the governments of Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Greenland had taken on the costs of supporting staff at U.S. military bases. They cited information from the Associated Press. But the original AP report states that Germany covered salaries only for its own employees working at American bases — not for U.S. service members. As for Poland, Lithuania and Greenland, the article says the governments of those countries did not respond to reporters’ questions about whether they were paying salaries to local employees at U.S. bases.
During the U.S. shutdown, there were also problems with military pay inside the country. The Trump administration decided to redirect about $8 billion originally earmarked for research and development at the Pentagon to ensure service members were paid. In addition, the Pentagon accepted an anonymous $130 million donation to partially cover the payments owed.