The US will pay countries not to buy arms from Russia

It was a program designed by the State Department to help the former Warsaw Pact countries break away from dependence on the Russian economy – the United States would straight up pay the newly liberated former Soviet Union allies to buy American-made weapons instead of buying them from their former patron.

That program is back, and the United States is expanding it.

A Russian-built Hind helicopter in the Macedonian Air Force

It's called the European Recapitalization Incentive Program and Eastern Europe is signing on for arms made in the good ol' US of A. But the U.S. isn't stopping at limiting Russian influence through arms sales, the American government is using the program to limit arms sales from China too. It's a function of the State Department working hand-in-hand with the Pentagon in an effort to project American economic power and military goodwill.

"The goal is to help our partners break away from the Russian supply chain [and] logistics chain that allows Russian contractors and service personnel, and Russian-manufactured spare parts onto either NATO allied bases or partner military bases," a State Department official told Defense One.

A Russian-built T-72 tank in the Slovakian Army.

The countries signing on to the revitalized program can't just promise not to buy Russian or Chinese weapons from now on. They will also need to get rid of their old ones as well as purchase new American replacements. So instead of gifting these countries a hodgepodge of military arms or vehicles, the countries can invest in American military power while getting rid of old systems and updating their military capabilities. Some of the partner countries are still using Soviet-built weapons.

In the past year, the U.S. State Department has signed on six former Soviet Bloc countries to the program to the tune of 0 million, including Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia, and Slovakia. The program will even bring these countries up to NATO standards in many areas. If successful, the U.S. will expand the program beyond Eastern Europe to help other countries break free of Chinese and Russian dependence.