Washington has placed more than 8,000 U.S.-based troops on a heightened state of alert amid tensions with Moscow over Ukraine.
The Pentagon spokesman said if deployed, the troops would be sent to bolster NATO's presence in eastern Europe.
President Joe Biden has been holding talks with key European allies over a common strategy towards Russia over Ukraine.
The BBC's Steven Rosenberg reports from Moscow.
[Reporter]
I think the problem for NATO now is it sees a threat, so naturally it wants to boost security for its allies and its partners, and that means deploying more warships and more fighter jets, and potentially thousands of troops to eastern Europe.
But the danger of that is, it plays into the Kremlin's narrative that the West threatens Russia's national security.
And that sparks more muscle flexing by Moscow and more instability.
