Russia seems to be continuing military growth around Ukraine, no de-escalation - Stoltenberg
The North Atlantic Alliance has so far seen no signs of de-escalation by Russia on the Ukrainian border.
This was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg before the ministerial meeting in Brussels, European Truth reports.
"We have heard from Moscow that it is ready to continue its diplomatic efforts, but so far we do not see any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary, Russia seems to be continuing its military build-up", - Stoltenberg said.
He also added that the statements made yesterday from Moscow give grounds for cautious optimism, because it was a message about diplomacy.
Read also: Russia has stated that it is returning troops to their places of permanent deployment
"But at the same time we do not see any withdrawal of Russian forces. And this contradicts the statements about diplomatic efforts. We also need to see if there will be a Russian withdrawal, we are closely monitoring the situation around Ukraine. And we see that they are increasing troops that there is no de-escalation", - Stoltenberg said.
He reiterated that NATO had not yet received a response from Russia to their written proposals, which were sent on 26 January.
"We want to reiterate our message to Russia that we are ready to sit down and discuss with them. But at the same time we are preparing for the worst. And if Russia invades Ukraine again, it will pay a high price. And we will continue to expose Russia's plans and actions to complicate aggressive actions against Ukraine, "the secretary general said.
Read also: Russia has announced the withdrawal of troops from the occupied Crimea
Stoltenberg expressed hope that Russia would join the dialogue and choose diplomacy instead of confrontation.
What is known
- The American company Maxar has taken new satellite images that show the growth of Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine, in the temporarily occupied Crimea and Belarus.
- The US Global Hawk monitored Ukraine and the Black Sea.
- Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov said that the Russian Federation continues to militarize the temporarily occupied Crimea, but the formation of strike groups ready for the offensive is not observed there.
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