NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (Jens Stoltenberg) warned Moscow not to “take any further provocations or aggressive actions” after US officials warned that Russia may be prepared to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodmir Zelensky said last week, Russia Almost 100,000 soldiers have been assembled near the Ukrainian border, as Washington warned that Moscow might “try to repeat” its 2014 invasion.
Stoltenberg said on Monday: “We have seen a large-scale build-up of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border, which is unusual.” “NATO remains vigilant… Any further provocations or aggressive actions by Russia will cause serious concern. We call on Russia to be transparent about its military activities.”
Stoltenberg made the above remarks during a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The two discussed the “security situation in Ukraine and its surrounding areas.”
“We must stay awake,” Stoltenberg said. “We need to be realistic about the challenges we face. What we are seeing is Russia’s large-scale military buildup.”
Satellite images and videos uploaded to social media showed that tanks, artillery and short-range ballistic missiles were moving along the border between Ukraine and Ukraine. Belarus From the end of last month.
Some of these weapons are Moved to the area earlier this year During the large-scale assembly, alarm bells sounded in the west. However, new rail transportation of military equipment was discovered in southern Russia, the Ural region as far as Russia, and the Crimea Peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Although Stoltenberg said he did not want to speculate on the intentions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he called the situation “dangerous” and said it would allow Russia to launch offensive operations in a short period of time.
Analysts pointed out that Russia’s previous attack on the city of Debaltseve in 2015 was also launched in the winter, when lower temperatures made it easier to transport armor and other heavy weapons.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson argued on Monday that if the West wants to fight aggression, it may soon have to stop relying on Russian oil and gas.
For Ukraine.
In issuing a warning to European countries that are particularly dependent on Russian natural gas, the prime minister expressed his belief that Putin may seriously restrict supply through the eastern pipeline. Europe If the West expresses its intention to defend Ukraine.
At the banquet of the Mayor of London, Johnson said: “When our Polish friends asked us to help deal with an artificial crisis on their border with Belarus, we responded quickly. We hope that our friends will soon realize that Between transporting more Russian hydrocarbons to the huge new pipeline, between supporting Ukraine and supporting the cause of peace and stability, we are about to face a choice, let me put it this way.”
According to US media reports, US President Joe Biden sent CIA Director Bill Burns to Moscow this month to warn Putin that the US is closely monitoring developments.
Zelensky said in a speech last week: “I hope the world can now clearly see who really wants peace and who has nearly 100,000 soldiers on our border.”
At the same time, Russia has denied any plans to launch an offensive operation against Ukraine.
Putin complained this weekend that Ukraine used a Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone attack in Donbass, saying they violated the 2015 ceasefire agreement. Senior Russian military officials accused NATO of gathering in Europe and the Black Sea.
As tensions intensified over the immigration crisis on the border between Belarus and the European Union, Russian military actions followed. Belarus warned that because the two countries are allies and are jointly defending the country’s borders with NATO, any conflict may be caused in Russia.
During the joint exercises held in Moscow and Minsk, Moscow last week also sent nuclear-capable bombers and paratroopers to the western border of Belarus with Poland and Lithuania for training missions.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis also hinted that the Kremlin might use the Belarusian border crisis as a smokescreen to prepare for an attack.
“While we are dealing with the situation on the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus, Ukraine is very likely to be attacked,” he said.
He added that the rally is “actually the same distance from the Belarusian border and the same distance from the Ukrainian border, so I think Putin may be playing because we don’t have the answer. [are kept guessing] Who is under attack”.
