Russian warship / Alexey. The U.S. and U.K. warned Russia against any military incursion into Ukraine, warning it would be a strategic mista...
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| Russian warship / Alexey. |
Boris Johnson’s government issued its own warning that the U.K. would use “all diplomatic and economic levers at our disposal” to avert the threat.
“We will support Ukraine and stability in the Western Balkans, to safeguard their security and build their economic resilience,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement Tuesday, as she attends a NATO meeting in Latvia. “We have seen this playbook from the Kremlin before when Russia falsely claimed its illegal annexation of Crimea was a response to NATO aggression,” she said. “Any suggestion that NATO is provoking the Russians is clearly false.”
The U.S. has shared intelligence with European allies that shows a large-scale deployment of Russian troops and artillery that it says could be a prelude for a push into Ukraine early next year. Putin has denied any such plan. But Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned that Moscow will take “adequate defensive measures” in response to NATO’s deployment of military infrastructure on its borders in a commentary posted Tuesday on its website.
“The expansion of the alliance is fueling tensions,” the ministry said, accusing the U.S.-led military bloc of deliberately testing Russia’s reaction.
The European Union said it is working to arrange a meeting between between the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, with a spokesperson warning Russia against violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty or territorial integrity.