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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ahead of the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels underlined Alliance sees no signs of deescalation on Ukraine-Russia border, the press office of the Alliance reported.
“We have heard the signs from Moscow about readiness to continue diplomatic efforts. But so far, we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary, it appears that Russia continues the military build-up. And we have not received any response to our written document, our written proposals, that we sent to Russia on the 26th of January,” Stoltenberg noted.
“And we will continue to expose Russia’s plans and actions to make it harder for them to conduct aggressive actions against Ukraine. But we really hope that Russia will engage in meaningful dialogue and choose diplomacy instead of confrontation,” NATO Secretary General underlined.
February 16, Russia’s defence ministry published footage of what it said were tanks, armored personnel carriers and mobile artillery leaving the Crimean peninsula — which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 — and returning to their bases.
Russia has not taken its “foot off the gas” over a potential invasion and Ukraine and the UK hasn’t “seen evidence” of a withdrawal of forces, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has warned.
“In fact, we have seen continuing build-up and things like field hospitals and strategic weapon systems, missiles deployed,” Ben Wallace noted.
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Earlier, National security adviser Jake Sullivan said a full Russian invasion of Ukraine could come before the end of the Beijing Olympics on February 20, even as President Joe Biden told his counterparts about Moscow’s forces possibly launching an incursion.
Tensions between Russia-Ukraine and the West escalated over the weekend after Western media reports claimed that Moscow could launch an attack on Ukraine on February 16. Moscow recently amassed 130,000 troops near Ukraine, prompting fears that the Kremlin could be planning another military offensive against Kyiv.
Read also: NATO reiterated that Ukraine has right join Alliance
Russia has always denied it is planning an attack.
