Rachel Maddow on Tuesday reminded her audience that President Barack Obama ramped up U.S. troop presence near the Russian border just days before he’s set to leave office, leading the MSNBC host to wonder, “Is the new president going to take those troops out?”

Maddow noted the similarities between Russian president Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and the unverified dossier published last week alleging Russian intelligence possesses information to use against the president-elect.

ADVERTISEMENT

“How Vladimir Putin stopped being just a KGB guy and got political power in the first place was by producing at just the right time and in just the right way, just the right sex tape to use for political purposes,” Maddow said after a brief history lesson on Putin’s rise to power.

Maddow then explained President Obama’s decision to send troops to the Russian border, noting the move is intended to assuage concerns of our allies in the region. Maddow also suggested Trump’s course of action regarding these troops could provide insight into how the president-elect intends to handle the adversarial nation.

“There are two full days left of the Obama administration,” Maddow began. “One of the things that has happened in the very last days of the Obama Administration is that the outgoing president has accelerated the deployment of U.S. Trumps to right next to Russia.

“These are American Marines from Camp Lejeune, arriving in central Norway this week,” She continued. “This is the first time that foreign troops have been posted to Norway since the end of World War II.”

“A U.S. deployment much larger than that just arrived in Poland as well,” Maddow explained. “This happened the past week, the largest U.S. deployment in Europe since the end of the Cold War. 1,000 troops, going up to several thousand troops, stationed in Poland.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The MSNBC host said President Obama sent troops there earlier than planned after negotiating with these countries who “want Americans there.”

“Russia hates it, but our allies—they say they want it,” Maddow added.

“There is a lot going on in politics right now,” she said. “But the president is very quietly leaving a whole bunch of U.S. troops on Russia’s doorstep on his way out the door. And here’s the question: is the new president going to take those troops out?”

ADVERTISEMENT

Watch the video below, via MSNBC: