NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned after a conversation with the presidents of the United States and other members of the Alliance that any Russian aggression against Ukraine will have “severe costs.”
“We agree that any new aggression by Russia against Ukraine will have severe costs,” Stoltenberg said on his Twitter account this Tuesday (01.25.2022) after speaking with the leaders of the US, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and the leaders of the Commission and the European Council.
Great meeting with @POTUS on European security with #NATO leaders @EmmanuelMacron, @OlafScholz, Mario Draghi, @AndrzejDuda, @BorisJohnson & our #EU partners @eucopresident & @vonderleyen. We agree that any further aggression by #Russia against #Ukraine will have severe costs. pic.twitter.com/r7wx0Xln4X
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) January 24, 2022
In his previous message, Stoltenberg had assured that the organization is “considering” the possibility of increasing its presence in the southeast of the Alliance, including the possible deployment of combat groups such as those already in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. since 2017.
After the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO already reinforced its presence in the east with the deployment in 2017 of four combat groups in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Given the increase in tension with Russia due to the possibility of it invading Ukraine again, the Alliance has increased its presence on the eastern flank.
The Kremlin “very concerned” about US troops on alert
The Kremlin today expressed concern about the US decision to put 8,500 soldiers on “high alert” before a possible deployment in Eastern Europe due to the escalation of tension with Russia over Ukraine.
“We are observing these US actions with great concern,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said in his daily telephone briefing.
He added that everything the United States does, “informationally and in fact,” is “aggravating the tension.”
“There is nothing new” in it, stressed the Kremlin spokesman, who added that Russia is awaiting the written answers that the US and NATO promised to give this week on the security guarantees demanded by Moscow.
He indicated that the US announcement about placing troops on alert does not influence the negotiations at all.
“At their current stage, the negotiations have concluded. Before we understand how we are going to continue, we must receive the text (of the answers), which we expect this week,” Peskov said.
The security guarantees demanded by Russia include stopping further expansion of the Alliance, in particular to Ukraine and Georgia, the cessation of all military cooperation with the former Soviet republic and the withdrawal of NATO troops and weapons to the positions they held before 1997.
Peskov declined to comment on Moscow’s possible responses to a US and NATO denial of his demands.
“When we have the answers, we will analyze them and present our position,” the spokesman said.
Asked if in the recent telephone conversation between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, the possibility of placing Russian military infrastructure in Cuba was discussed, Peskov replied that it was not.
