There is a real risk of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine, the alliance’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said after a video conference of NATO foreign ministers on Friday.
“The risk of conflict is real. Russia’s aggressive actions are seriously undermining security in Europe, “Stoltenberg said.
NATO foreign ministers held a video conference on Friday to coordinate an approach to the concentration of the Russian army around Ukraine and Moscow’s security requirements ahead of talks with Russia ahead of next week.
Talks between the United States and Russia are expected in Geneva on Monday, and Russian talks with all 30 NATO countries will be held in Brussels on Wednesday, which will be the first such talks since July 2019.
Diplomats have pointed out that there is no consensus among European allies on NATO’s position in the new week’s talks with Russia.
The focus must be on ensuring that Russian President Vladimir Putin withdraws troops from Ukraine’s border and that Moscow’s security proposals must be unequivocally rejected, some say.
Others point out that meetings could help relaunch the negotiation process and that there are issues that could be room for discussion.
“Russia is offering a dialogue, and we should not be afraid of it, even if the proposals that Russia is proposing are not at all acceptable to us,” a source in the French government said in Paris on Thursday. “There are issues we can talk to about Russia, such as stability and security.”
Russia’s proposals in the field of security have also caused some nervousness in Finland and Sweden, which insist that no one has the right to interfere in the countries’ choice to join NATO.-
Stoltenberg spoke to the leaders of the two countries on Friday, saying that the alliance “respects the right of each country to choose its own path”.
Moscow has issued an ultimatum to the West demanding a halt to further NATO expansion to the east, as well as the dismantling of the Alliance’s infrastructure in the so-called new member states, restoring the status quo on 27 May 1997, before NATO’s first enlargement.
Putin has threatened that if Moscow does not receive the “security guarantees” it has requested, it will have to implement “military technical measures”.
The United States and the West believe that Russia may be preparing an attack on Ukraine.
Russia denies allegations of an invasion of Ukraine by its troops. According to Putin, Moscow is taking a defensive stance due to fears that Kiev is getting too close to NATO.
At a video summit on December 7, US President Joe Biden warned Putin that the United States would impose unprecedented sanctions on Russia if it attacked Ukraine.
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