"It is possible to find together a path a
political way forward and also to
address russia's concerns but there
continues to be a risk of conflict," Stoltenberg told financial times.
NATO has sent clear message to russia, NATO Chief Jen Stoltenberg said that the
alliance has prepared for new armed
conflict over ukraine. NATO's deterrence is credible and strong
we have to hope and work hard for the
best, but be prepared for the worst.
Talking before meeting ukraine's deputy
prime minister, the NATO chief said they
are working hard for a peaceful
political path and that they are ready
to continue to work with russia to try
to find that path towards a peaceful
solution. At the same time we need to be prepared
that russia once again chooses to use
armed force, chooses confrontation
instead of cooperation.
Stoltenberg was speaking as high-ranking
u.s and russian officials held a
high-stakes meeting in geneva over the
crisis, that will be followed wednesday by talks
in brussels between russia and all 30 NATO allies.
"Please need to send a very clear message
to russia, that we are united in that
there will be severe costs economic, political costs, for Russia if they once
again use military force against ukraine," Stoltenberg said.
He pointed out that the alliance
provides support to ukraine helping them
to uphold the right for self-defense. Stoltenberg said he did not expect the
talks this week to solve all the issues, but wanted to kickstart a process
towards a political solution. "We are aiming for an agreement on a way
forward, a process, a series of meetings," he said.
Moscow has laid down a raft of security
demands for the U.S and NATO, such as
excluding granting ukraine membership of
the alliance and pulling back forces
close to russia.
Russia has put forward a highly
contentious list of security guarantees
it says it wants the west to agree to in
order to lower tensions in europe and
diffuse the crisis over ukraine, including many elements that have
already been ruled out.
The demands include a ban on ukraine
entering NATO and a limit to the
deployment of troops and weapons to NATO's eastern flank, in effect returning NATO forces to where they were stationed
in 1997 before an eastward expansion.
The eight-point draft treaty was
released by russia's foreign ministry as
its forces mass within striking distance
of ukraine's borders. Moscow said
ignoring its interest would lead to a
military response similar to the cuban
missile crisis of 1962.
Russian president vladimir putin has
demanded that the west provide russia
legal guarantees of its security, but the Kremlin's aggressive proposals are
likely to be rejected in western
capitals as an attempt to formalize a
new russian sphere of influence over
eastern europe. The demands spelled out by moscow in
full for the first time, were handed over
to the US this week.
They included demand that NATO remove
any troops or weapons deployed to
countries that entered the alliance
after 1997, which would include much of
eastern europe including poland, the
former soviet countries of estonia, lithuania, latvia and the balkan
countries.
Russia has also demanded that NATO rule out further expansion, including the accession of Ukraine into
the alliance and that it does not hold
drills without previous agreement from
russia in Ukraine eastern europe, in
caucasus countries such as Georgia or in
central asia.
Those proposals are likely to be viewed
extremely negatively by NATO countries, in particular poland and the baltic
states. They have warned that russia is
attempting to re-establish a sphere of
influence in the region and view the
document as proof moscow is seeking to
limit their sovereignty.
The Russia document also calls for the
two countries to pull back any short or
medium-range missile systems out of
reach, replacing the previous Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that the US left in 2018.
Western countries have warned that Russia may be preparing an invasion of
ukraine by the month end as russian
tanks, artillery and missiles have mass
near borders. Russia reportedly has
massed about 100,000 troops on its side
of the border.
The Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelinsky has called on the west for
additional aid in case Russia decides to
launch a broader offensive. U.S President Joe Biden also has warned putin of
sanctions like he's never seen should
his troops attack Ukraine.
On the other hand, the kremlin has
portrayed the tensions with ukraine and
its western allies as a security threat
to moscow, demanding written guarantees
that the military alliance will not
expand eastward or work closely with
countries that once formed part of the
soviet union.
Moscow which has denied involvement in
the ongoing war in eastern ukraine
despite backing separatists there with
forces and materiel is also calling for
the removal of all NATO military
infrastructure installed after 1997
eastern european countries that are now
members of the alliance.
The US and Allies say it is not up to
moscow to determine the path taken by
other countries, but insist they are
willing to listen to russia's concerns.
Olga Stefanoshina, one of ukraine's four
deputy prime ministers said any
discussions on the security guarantee
should start with the withdrawal of
russian troops from ukrainian territory. russia demands unconditional surrender, demands to undermine the basic
principles of functioning of the
democratic countries and the principles
of NATO, she said.
"We believe that russia miscalculates the
situation and we strongly rely on our
allies and their unity and assertiveness
in protecting security and stability in
europe, he added."
Dimitri Trennan, the head of the Carnegie Moscow Center wrote that russia's public
release of its proposed agreements may
suggest that moscow rightly considers
their acceptance by west unlikely.
