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The United States on Monday put 8,500 troops on alert over the growing tension in Ukraine and President Joe Biden called European allies in an effort to maintain Western unity against Russian pressure.
The European Union, meanwhile, urged allies to avoid a “nervous breakdown” in the face of fears that Russia could stage a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Despite insisting he has no intention of attacking, President Vladimir Putin has deployed some 100,000 troops close to Ukraine, where Russia already seized Crimea in 2014 and backs a separatist army in the east.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US force of up to 8,500 was on “heightened alert,” but the troops were not yet being deployed. Most of the troops would be used to boost the NATO Response Force if it were to be activated.
“What this is about… is reassurance to our NATO allies,” Kirby said. “It sends a very clear signal to Mr Putin that we take our responsibilities to NATO seriously.”
NATO also said it was sending jets and ships to bolster its eastern flank.
The tension helped fuel steep drops in global markets, while Russia’s main stock index plunged and the central bank suspended foreign currency purchasing after the ruble slumped.
Moscow is demanding a guarantee that Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, never be allowed to join NATO, as well as other concessions by the United States in return for a decrease in tension.
The United States and NATO have rejected the Russian demands and told Putin to deescalate, warning that a Russian attack on Ukraine will trigger “severe” economic sanctions and a beefed-up NATO presence in eastern Europe.
The French government announced that Russian and Ukrainian officials would meet, along with French and German counterparts, in Paris on Wednesday to try to find a way out of the…
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Source : france24
