The military alliance is observing a continued Russian troop buildup and preparations for such an attack, Stoltenberg said Tuesday after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Committee in Brussels. He spoke of the most dangerous situation for Europe in a generation.
Representatives of the 30 NATO countries met with representatives of Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon in Brussels. At the meeting, NATO is expected to pledge further assistance and solidarity to Ukraine in the conflict with Russia. However, direct military support is ruled out. Since Ukraine is not a member of the Alliance, it cannot request assistance under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
NATO is currently supporting Ukraine, for example, in developing cyber defense capabilities and with advice. In addition, individual allies such as the USA are supplying weapons on the basis of bilateral agreements.
Video: So far, Russia has been unimpressed by the threat of sanctions from the West. OÖN-TV discussed why this is the case with foreign policy editor Clemens Schuhmann.
House of Lords approves deployment
Almost at the same time, it became known that the upper house of the Russian parliament approved a deployment of troops in eastern Ukraine. The Federation Council voted unanimously on Tuesday evening in favor of a corresponding order from President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin boss determines the number of soldiers and the duration of the stationing “abroad,” it said.
Putin had previously addressed the Federation Council with a request to discuss “the deployment of Russian armed forces outside the territory of the Russian Federation,” as Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko said.
Referring to the “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, now recognized by Moscow, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said during the meeting: “We have to protect the citizens of these young states.” He also accused Ukraine of having gathered around 60,000 soldiers on the contact line to the separatist areas.
Unfazed by sanctions
At noon, the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, ratified the recognition of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent states. Deputies unanimously supported the “friendship and assistance” treaties with the pro-Russian separatist areas. Putin signed the law in the evening.
On Monday evening, the head of state issued a decree ordering the deployment of Russian soldiers to the areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists. To the dismay of many western states, he also recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent “people’s republics”.
Russia was unimpressed by sanctions such as the halt to Nord Stream 2 and surprisingly far-reaching threats of sanctions from the EU. In the evening, US President Joe Biden will give a public speech on the conflict with Russia over Ukraine and will likely announce sanctions.
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Source: Nachrichten
