Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis around Ukraine are in full swing. In particular, during the weekend of February 12-13 this year US President Joe Biden held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. He warned Putin of the serious consequences of the invasion and promised support for Ukraine. Biden reaffirmed the US readiness to support Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and said the US response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine would be swift. Putin dismissed Biden’s arguments and warnings as a provocation.
At the same time, NATO is skeptical of Putin’s assurances. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that similar peace assurances about the exercise came from Moscow in 2008, when Russia was concentrating its troops on the eve of the invasion of Georgia, and in 2014 before the invasion of Donbass in Ukraine.
Stressing that Washington intends to continue to use diplomatic means to resolve the crisis, the United States is ready for other options.
Meanwhile, a number of states, including Germany, have urged their citizens to leave Ukraine.
Russian President Putin’s plan to split NATO and Allied partners at the risk of invasion has failed and has backfired, uniting NATO partners.
The Baltic States have for many years called on NATO to strengthen the Alliance’s forces in their countries. Given the Russian threat, according to reports from Brussels, this desire is now being overestimated. Meanwhile, the German federal government is considering various possible scenarios for the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine calls for 48 hours of OSCE talks with Russia and refers to the Vienna Document on OSCE Confidence- and Security-Building Measures.
NATO is coming together
Currently, there are more than 100,000 servicemen on the Ukrainian border, the publication notes. NATO Headquarters is also closely monitoring the concentration of Russian troops in neighboring Belarus, further increasing the country’s dependence on Moscow.
NATO speculates that the Russian president may support such a potential threat of invasion for a long time. Military equipment can remain at the border, while personnel will change on a rotating basis over and over again. According to NATO intelligence services, Russia has also established a comprehensive supply logistics, which, according to experts, goes far beyond standard exercises. In particular, there is information on the delivery of canned blood supplies to advanced areas.
A German unit of almost 900 troops in Lithuania has also been stationed in designated areas for five years. For the Baltic states, the deployment of Russian troops in Belarus is particularly threatening because they have a direct border with the country. Russian units are also present in the Baltic Sea.
NATO has refused to hold military exercises
According to NATO, every effort is being made not to provoke an undesirable situation in the region. In particular, exercises with aggressive scenarios of action of allied units have been canceled, which should prevent the situation from escalating. At the same time, NATO states that the further development of the Alliance’s actions will be assessed in the light of the movement of Russian troops.
A meeting of NATO foreign ministers will take place in Brussels in the middle of this week, at which the situation in Ukraine will also be intensively discussed. Representatives of Finland and Sweden, which are not members of the North Atlantic Defense Alliance, are also involved.
Thus, it becomes clear that the invasion of Russian troops, under the threat of the Russian president, does not contribute to the expected split in NATO and among its partners, but, on the contrary, leads to the unity of allies.
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