U.S. army and German army soldiers attend the Saber Strike military exercise at Central pylon in Tapa, Estonia, on June 20, 2016. Saber Strike is an annual U.S.-led exercise of land and air forces. (Xinhua/Sergei Stepanov)

MOSCOW, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Washington is "initiating a new arms race" by deploying large-scale troops to Europe, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Monday.

The U.S. military buildup in Europe has "a powerful potential for destroying the entire architecture of European security ... threatening to trigger long-term destructive consequences in the Euro-Atlantic region," she said in an online statement.

Washington is trying to impose a confrontational model of relations reminiscent of the Cold War, Zakharova added.

According to her, the United States transferred to Poland an armored brigade, consisting of about 4,000 troops and 2,500 combat hardware units, earlier this month.

Starting in January, 300 U.S. marines will be deployed to a Norwegian base. In late March, a U.S. air brigade is expected to be deployed to Germany, and a battalion tactical group will be deployed to Poland in April.