NATO foreign and defence ministers called on Russia on Wednesday 14 April for immediate appeasement as large numbers of Russian troops are gathered on Ukraine’s borders.
“Allies fully support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and we call on Russia to de-escalate immediately, to stop its pattern of aggressive provocations and to respect its international commitments”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after a virtual meeting of ministers.
Recalling that the Allies were providing political and practical support to Ukraine in many different ways, Mr Stoltenberg encouraged them to “step up their efforts and do more”. “We help with capacity building, with modernising reforming the defence and security institutions, with some training, and different NATO Allies also provide on the bilateral basis, equipment, and different kinds of material support”, he said.
The United States, for example, provides non-lethal equipment, some weapons and trainers, according to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who said his country would like to continue to do so as needed.
In addition, on Thursday 15 April, allied countries expressed their support and solidarity with the United States. Minutes earlier, Washington had adopted measures against Russia in response to its destabilising activities. In a joint statement, the Allies reiterated their call on Russia to “stop its provocations and immediately de-escalate tensions on Ukraine’s borders and in the illegally annexed Crimea”.
See the statement: https://bit.ly/3sqs3tv (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)