Russia has resumed a military build-up near Ukrainian border, the NATO secretary general has said, calling the deployments "a very regrettable step backward".
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday that Moscow appeared bent on using its military to intimidate Ukraine further.
"I can confirm that we now see a new Russian military build-up - at least a few thousand more Russian troops deployed to the Ukrainian border, and we see troop manoeuvres in the neighbourhood of Ukraine," he said.
"If they're deployed to seal the border and stop the flow of weapons and fighters that would be a positive step. But that's not what we're seeing."
Rasmussen said "the international community would have to respond firmly if Russia were to intervene further".
Jack Lew, the US treasury secretary, said on Thursday that Russia must back the peace plan instead of destabilising the situation.
"We continue to urge Russia to work with Ukraine to reach a negotiated resolution to the current situation. But if Russia is unwilling to reverse course, the United States and the international community is prepared to impose additional cost," Lew said at a news conference in Berlin.
NATO estimated at one point there were up to 40,000 Russian forces deployed near the border with Ukraine, but reported last month that many of the soldiers and their equipment had been pulled back.
EU deal
Petro Poroshenko, Ukriane's president, said on Thursday he would sign the "association agreement" with the EU on June 27...................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/06/nato-warns-russian-army-boost-near-ukraine-201461912466765931.html
19/6/14
----
-
Related:
Russian army goes back to Ukrainian border as NATO forces become more active
Russische Truppen marschieren an der Grenze auf...
Speech by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at Chatham House - London, United Kingdom......
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
President Putin calls emergency meeting with security council to discuss southeast Ukraine events...
ReplyDeleteRussian President Vladimir Putin called an emergency meeting with the permanent members of Russia's Security Council late on Thursday, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. "The agenda for the session was dominated by the situation in the southeast of Ukraine," Peskov said.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, presidential chief-of-staff Sergei Ivanov, Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov, Foreign Intelligence Service director Mikhail Fradkov, the Security Council's deputy secretary Rashid Nurgaliyev, and Security Council permanent member Boris Gryzlov.......http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_06_20/President-Putin-calls-emergency-meeting-with-security-council-to-discuss-southeast-Ukraine-events-8303/
20/6/14