Thursday, December 16, 2021
Stoltenberg meets Selensky
NATO: Russia continues troop deployment
How is the Ukraine conflict developing? According to NATO, there are no signs of an end to the Russian troop deployment – on the contrary. In the meantime, the heads of state are meeting in Brussels at an EU summit to find a solution.
According to NATO knowledge, Russia is continuing its troop movements towards Ukraine unchanged. There are no signs that the military build-up will stop or slow down, said General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg on the sidelines of a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj in Brussels. “The opposite is the case, it goes on.”
Stoltenberg called the Russian approach unjustified, provocative and destabilizing. They call for a return to diplomacy and de-escalation. NATO is ready to talk to Russia. Any further Russian aggression against Ukraine will have serious consequences and a high price, the Norwegian said.
The background to the warnings to Moscow are NATO findings that Russia has concentrated between 75,000 and 100,000 soldiers in areas not far from Ukraine. The developments bring back memories of 2014. At that time, Russia had annexed the Crimean peninsula after the coup in Ukraine and began supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine, which is still ongoing.
The one-day EU summit is also taking place in Brussels at the same time. According to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the meeting should send a clear signal to Russia in the Ukraine conflict. The troop deployment at the border is a “difficult situation,” said Scholz before the start of the EU summit. “That is why we will emphasize again here today that the inviolability of the borders is one of the most important foundations of peace in Europe and that we will do everything together to ensure that the inviolability really remains.”