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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the Western military alliance will not send troops to Ukraine if Russia invades the country.
“We do not plan to send NATO combat troops to Ukraine – we are focusing on providing support,” Stoltenberg told the BBC on January 30.
“There is a difference between a country that is a member of NATO and a valuable partner country such as Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg’s comments came at a time of rising tensions between NATO and Moscow, as Russia has positioned more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, raising concerns about the invasion.
The Kremlin, which has denied plans for an invasion like the one in 2014 when it took control of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, has insisted in recent negotiations with Washington and NATO on some guarantees that Ukraine and the former Soviet Union would not join. the alliance of the West.
Ukraine is aiming for NATO membership but does not yet have an action plan for membership, which would present the conditions for becoming part of it.
NATO has said its “open door” policy is non-negotiable, and Washington has stressed that sovereign states have the right to decide for themselves their military alliances.
Following the US response to Moscow’s demands, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on January 28 that it seemed to him that the West had “ignored” Moscow’s security concerns.
NATO has said it is prepared to increase its presence in Eastern European member states if Russia invades Ukraine, and some alliance members have provided military equipment to Kiev.
Washington has said it is seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis and that Russia should withdraw its military presence near the border with Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he expects to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming weeks for another round of talks, but Putin will decide how to respond to the US position on Moscow’s demands.
Moscow has backed separatists in the war in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed the lives of more than 13,200 people since 2014, the same year Russia annexed Crimea.
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