NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg takes part in the round table of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. File photoBERLIN Feb. 20 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told ARD that there are signs that Russia is preparing a «full-scale» attack on Ukraine. However, he did not name the signs on the basis of which such conclusions were made.
"All signs indicate that Russia is planning a full-scale attack on Ukraine. We see… that the troops are not withdrawing, as Russia reports, instead new troops are arriving", Stoltenberg said.
The NATO Secretary General said that Russia, judging by the «signs», intends to create a pretext for an attack. “We all know that the risk of attack is very high… It is not too late for Russia to de-escalate, take a step back and enter into a political dialogue with NATO,” Stoltenberg said. Western states have recently expressed concern about allegedly dangerous Russia's actions near the borders of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying that it does not threaten anyone and does not intend to attack anyone, and claims of «Russian aggression» are used as an excuse to deploy more NATO military equipment near Russian borders.
NATO's readiness to listen to Russia's concernsUnsubstantiated claims that Russia is preparing provocations continue to come from the West, despite the return of Russian troops to their places of deployment after the exercises. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. At a meeting with Putin, the head of the RF Ministry of Defense reported that «some of the exercises are coming to an end, some will be completed in the near future.» The Southern and Western military districts of the Russian Federation have begun returning troops to their places of deployment, Major General Igor Konashenkov, an official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, told reporters on Tuesday. =»/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/6fc35d73c07a18af9b55fe9c6d7e85e3.jpg» />Yesterday, 11:15 InfographicHow the situation in Donbas developedInfographicViewPosted by: Nikita Stoma