Ukraine asks NATO to prepare sanctions against Russia for “possible invasion”

First modification: 12/01/2021 – 17:17

It is the potentially most dangerous confrontation with Moscow since the Cold War. Following the exponential increase in Russian troops at the border, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Kremlin are threatening each other.

In the midst of this tension, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, joined the second day of meetings of the NATO Foreign Ministers in Latvia, from where he urged to prepare economic sanctions against Moscow as “dissuasive” measures, to stop what it considers a possible Russian invasion.

“We will ask allies to join Ukraine in drawing up a deterrence package,” should it “decide to choose the worst-case scenario,” Kuleba said.

In recent months, Ukraine has been denouncing the deployment of Russian troops on its border, but the increase has been significant recently. The alarms went off after Moscow soldiers began large-scale military exercises in more than 30 concentration camps in six different regions, according to Kiev.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry estimates that more than 114,000 Russian soldiers have been deployed to border areas in the northeast, east and south of Ukraine, including around 92,000 infantrymen and air and maritime forces.

The deployment has been such that different Western governments, including the United States and the European Union (EU), have warned of a probable and upcoming attack.

Washington warned Moscow that an attack on Kiev would have “serious consequences.”

The keys to the new war attempt

Although Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the military alliance has offered its full support and claims to be committed to preserving the sovereignty of the former Soviet republic, which is inclined to strengthen its relations with the West.

Moscow’s fury has flared again over Kiev’s plans to join both NATO and the European Union (EU).

Putin demands guarantees from the military coalition not to expand and rule out “any additional NATO movement to the east and the deployment of weapons systems that threaten us in the vicinity of Russian territory.”

Even on Tuesday Putin threatened to use a newly tested hypersonic weapon if NATO crosses “red lines” and deploys missiles on Ukrainian territory.

However, Washington is unlikely to accept its pressure, as it has already signaled that no country has the right to veto Ukraine’s NATO ambitions.

In the midst of this struggle, the Russian president called for “serious” talks with the United States and its allies. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm on Thursday, December 2.

The separatist conflict

Kiev and Moscow have been technically at odds since 2014, when Vladimir Putin annexed the then Ukrainian province of Crimea to his country. Since then, the Russian military presence in the border area has been frequent.

But given the new Russian military moves in recent weeks and warnings from NATO to get involved, the situation now would be worse.

Russia is backing the separatists in a long-standing war in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, and recently accused Kiev of mobilizing 125,000 soldiers, or half its army, into the conflict zone.

The Kremlin says it fears Ukraine will try to take back rebel areas by force, something it called “very dangerous adventurism.”

Kiev rejects the accusations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said direct talks with Moscow were needed to end the war in the east, which Kiev says has killed more than 14,000 people.

“We must speak the truth that we will not be able to stop the war without direct negotiations with Russia, and today this has already been recognized by all, all external partners,” Zelenski told the Parliament of his country.

However, so far Putin has dismissed the call.

With Reuters, AP and EFE