The US is considering a move to deter Russia not seen since the Cold War

The Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries, to deter any possible further Russian aggression in Europe, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Citing U.S. and allied officials, the newspaper said that if approved the proposal would mark the first time since the Cold War that Washington has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member states in Eastern Europe that were once part of the Soviet sphere of influence.

"It's like taking NATO back to the future," Julianne Smith, a former defense and White House official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a vice president at the consulting firm Beacon Global Strategies, told the Times.

"This is a very meaningful shift in policy," said James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral and the former supreme allied commander of NATO, told the Times. "It provides a reasonable level of reassurance to jittery allies, although nothing is as good as troops stationed full-time on the ground, of course."

The proposal calls for enough equipment for about 150 soldiers to be stored in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and enough for about 750 soldiers to be stored in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary, according to the Times.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and the White House still have to approve the proposal, which will likely encounter significant political hurdles. Already, some NATO allies are expressing concerns over how Russia may retaliate against the military build-up.

Others welcome the move: "If something happens, we can't wait days or weeks for more equipment," Mr. Vejonis, who will become Latvia's president in July, told the Times. "We need to react immediately."