Putin called the US troops in Germany "occupying"

According to Putin, legally, American troops in Germany remain occupying.

Vladimir Putin noted that after World War II, Germany was divided into four sectors: American, English, French and Soviet.

"So the Soviet Union formalized the termination of this occupation status, but the United States did not", - TASS quotes Putin as saying.

Putin added that the statement about the "US occupation forces" in Germany should be read not by his personal opinion, but by the expression of the views of "German-oriented" German politicians, writes Kommersant.

"Strictly speaking, formally and legally, there are American occupation troops on the territory of Germany. And in fact it is — there are a lot of them there," the president said during a meeting with MSU students on January 25.

Five of the seven American garrisons in Europe are located in Germany today. By 2020, about 37,000 US military personnel remained in Germany, whose long-term presence in the country was explained by the interests of preserving "transatlantic security".

Of this grouping of American troops, 11.9 thousand had to leave the territory of Germany by the decision of the then President of the country, Donald Trump. However, Joe Biden, who replaced Trump, reversed many of his predecessor's decisions, including freezing the withdrawal of some troops from Germany.