Withdraw Troops from Ukraine’s Borders, or Prepare for Sanctions

RIGA – United States of America (US) urges Russia to withdraw his troops from the border Ukraine . The US also warned that a Russian invasion would trigger sanctions that would hit Moscow harder than those imposed until now.

“We don’t know whether President (Vladimir) Putin has made the decision to strike. We do know that he is putting in place the capacity to do so on short notice if he so decides,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. /12/201).

Read: Russia accuses Ukraine of deploying tens of thousands of troops in conflict zone

“If Russia follows the path of confrontation, when it comes to Ukraine, we have made it clear that we will respond decisively. Including the various high-impact economic measures we have avoided in the past,” he continued.

Blinken was speaking in the Latvian capital, Riga, after conferring with the foreign ministers of countries from NATO and Ukraine about how to respond to what Kyiv said was an increase of more than 90,000 Russian troops near its borders.

A day earlier, the Kremlin leader said Russia was ready with newly tested hypersonic weapons if NATO crossed the “red line” and deployed missiles in Ukraine. Blinken himself stated that Russia’s concerns were unfounded.

Read: NATO Threatens Russia with Sanctions If Invasion of Ukraine Happens

“The idea that Ukraine is a threat to Russia would be a bad joke if things weren’t so serious. NATO itself is a defense alliance, we are not a threat to Russia,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg rejected accusations that the alliance provoked Moscow with military exercises in the Black Sea.

“The problem with Russia is that they are not transparent, that they have very aggressive rhetoric and a track record of showing that they have used previous military exercises as a cover for aggressive actions against their neighbours,” he said.

(esn)

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