NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), on Monday, has put its forces on standby and has also reinforced Eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets in response to the military build-up by Russia at the Ukrainian borders.
This move by NATO is signalling an aggressive approach by the West to brace for the alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia has so far denied the allegation stating that it has no plans of invading Ukraine. The Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg made a statement stating that NATO welcomes all the allies contributing additional forces. He further added that NATO will continue to take all the necessary steps to protect and defend its allies even if it includes the reinforcement of the Eastern part.
Britain has issued a statement mentioning that it is withdrawing some of the staff members and dependants from its embassy located in Ukraine given the growing threat of an invasion from Russia. This statement has come a day after the United States said that it has ordered the family members of the diplomats to leave the country.
The US embassy, in a statement, mentioned that military action by Russia can come at any time and the evacuation will become difficult after some time. The diplomats of the United States in Kyiv were also allowed to leave voluntarily. The latest Russia-US talks on Friday failed to produce any breakthroughs.
Russia has been demanding that NATO should withdraw the promise to let Ukraine join the organisation one day. It also demanded that NATO should withdraw all the troops and weaponry from the former Communist countries located in Eastern Europe that joined after the cold war.
The US says that the demands are non-starters but they are ready to discuss some other ideas related to arms control, missile deployments in the country, and some confidence-building measures. Russia has been warned against the invasion of Ukraine by the United States and the European Union. A total of around 100,000 troops are still deployed at the Ukrainian border while Russia awaits a written response to its demands within this week.
The foreign ministry of Ukraine, in a statement, called the move by the US embassy a premature one and a manifestation of excessive caution. It further added that there had been no cardinal changes in the situation related to the security of Ukraine, the threats from Russia are a constant feature since 2014, and the build-up of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border started in April last year.
