Following up on reports from the weekend, the Pentagon is confirming some $50 million in aid to be distributed more or less equally among Georgia, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

The $50 million is just the tip of the iceberg, and the overall program could cost upward of $350 million. It will include funding for both equipment for the nations, whose overall commitment amounts to just over 1.2% of the overall military force in Afghanistan.

Though the Pentagon insisted that the funding did not amount to “bribery,” they conceded that it was in part an incentive for the nations to keep literally scores of troops in the nation.

It keeps a large number of “partners” involved in the war, but does little for NATO efforts to increase the number of troops in the nation, as Canada and the Netherlands, both poised to leave, each contribute far more troops than all of these nations combined.

The Baltic states have taken the conflict in the Caucasus very seriously and have pressured the European Union, of which they are also members, to issue several new demands regarding Russia’s military presence in the breakaway enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Lithuanian defense chief Lieutenant General Valdas Tutkus is encouraging NATO to conduct more military exercises in the Baltics.

Admiral Mullen said the visit was meant to send “a very visible message of reassurance.” He also took the opportunity to once again hit out at Russia for its part in the Georgia conflict saying “certainly what they just did was unacceptable and should not happen again.”

Russia opposed the admission of the Baltic states into NATO, concerned that it would bring US military forces closer to its border. Russia froze all military ties with NATO in August, after the US and other members condemned Russia’s military retaliation in South Ossetia.