Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg notes that Russia is an aggressor and creates a crisis, but not Ukraine, which does not pose a threat to Russia, UNIAN reports.
Stoltenberg said this at a press conference in Brussels after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.
"Ukraine is a sovereign country. Ukraine has the right to self-defense. Ukraine is not a threat to Russia. Russia has the largest ground force in Europe. It is one of the major nuclear powers. It has invested significant resources in new modern military capabilities in recent years. But not only that, because Russia has used military force against Ukraine. In 2014, it occupied and seized a part of Ukraine - Crimea. It continues its illegal occupation of Crimea, and it controls the separatists in eastern Ukraine, in the Donbas," Stoltenberg said.
"Therefore, the very idea that Ukraine threatens Russia in a certain way is absolutely upside down. It is Russia that is the aggressor. It is Russia that has used force and continues to use force against Ukraine. And then it is building up troops with about a hundred thousand troops, artillery, armored vehicles, drones," the NATO secretary general stressed and added that these Russian actions are accompanied by threatening rhetoric, which is a problem.
"This crisis is created by Russia and for this reason it is important that it resort to de-escalation. Ukraine has the right to self-defense, which is enshrined in the UN Charter. And of course, some member states and NATO are helping it maintain its right to self-defense," Stoltenberg said.
NATO member states during a key January 12 special meeting in Europe rejected Russia's demands for "guarantees of non-accession to Ukraine and Georgia.
In addition, the alliance stressed that it would not give up the deployment of troops on its eastern borders.
The talks with the Kremlin took place against the backdrop of rising tensions on the Russian-Ukrainian border, where, according to Western intelligence, the Russian Defense Ministry has pulled in about 100,000 troops.
Russia calls Ukraine's accession to NATO its "red lines." The Kremlin claims that the Alliance troops allegedly threaten the national security of the country.
At the same time, NATO has repeatedly told Russia that only members of the organization and the people of these countries will decide on the fate of adopting countries.
