U.S. announces $1 billion program to boost military presence in Eastern Europe --- WARSAW — President Obama pledged his ironclad commitment Tuesday to the defense of Europe and proposed as much as $1 billion in additional spending to bolster the U.S. military presence in Poland and its neighbors, part of a strategy to reassure nervous allies and check Russia’s encroachment into the region. -- Standing beside Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski at the start of a four-day tour of Europe, Obama warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will face additional sanctions if he escalates the crisis in Ukraine, and urged him to take steps to resolve it diplomatically. -- “We have prepared economic costs on Russia that can escalate if we continue to see Russia actively destabilizing one of its neighbors,” said Obama, who will see the Russian leader Friday at a summit marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day. “Mr. Putin has a choice to make.” -- Earlier, addressing a joint display of U.S. and Polish troops, Obama gave the first of several reassurances about U.S. commitment to the defense of the new democracies in Eastern Europe. -- “Our commitment to Poland’s security, as well as the security of our allies in Central and Eastern Europe, is a cornerstone of our own security, and it is sacrosanct,” he said, flanked by F-16s that are part of a joint training program between the two countries.-- European leaders, especially in the east, have expressed anxiety that the United States will not want to focus attention or resources on the Russian threat — a concern that intensified after Obama seemed to narrow the case for using military action in a high-profile speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point last week. -- His trip this week, which includes meetings with a host of Eastern and Central European leaders, Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko and Group of Seven allies, is geared toward making clear that he is in no way abandoning longtime U.S. commitments to Europe. -- His proposal to spend as much as $1 billion on increased military exercises in Eastern Europe, which must be authorized by Congress, was well received by Eastern European leaders, although it fell short of their wish that the United States would establish a permanent military presence in Eastern Europe. -- European leaders argue that Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March and support since then for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have dramatically changed the security situation in Eastern Europe and put other countries at risk. - More, Zachary A. Goldfarb, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-announces-1-billion-program-to-boost-military-presence-in-eastern-europe/2014/06/03/414c0240-eb00-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html