NATO assures that the Russian deployment on the Ukrainian border is the largest since 2014 and calls for its “immediate” cessation

NATO stands firm against Russia's military outpost on the border with Ukraine and its role in the Donbas conflict and demands that Moscow stop its "provocations" and put an "immediate" end to the escalation of tension in the area.

"Russia's military build-up is unjustified, inexplicable and deeply worrying," condemned the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, this Tuesday from the organization's headquarters in Brussels.

"It is the largest accumulation of Russian troops since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014," warned Stoltenberg, who has not specified the type of response that NATO is considering in order to deter the significant increase in Russian boots on the ground.

"NATO is with Ukraine," he remarked in an appearance with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of this country, Dmytro Kuleba.

Russia has responded by defending the great military mobilization and has charged against the Alliance, which it has accused of "anti-Russian" actions and of turning Ukraine into a "powder keg".

In the West the situation worries and this Tuesday, in another diplomatic move, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, has telephoned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, has shown him his concern about the situation, has urged him to reduce the tension already meet in a third country.

The drum roll at the gates of the EU begins to unsettle the western powers, after Moscow has in recent weeks increased its tactical presence from the borders with northeastern Ukraine to the Black Sea, passing through the Donbas region .

They have reached 80,000 soldiers, according to estimates by the Jane's military intelligence study center, well accompanied by tanks, short-range ballistic missiles and with the reinforcement of the fleet around this border region and still potentially explosive, which is experiencing an armed conflict. for seven years between the Ukrainian Army and pro-Russian separatists supported politically and militarily by the Kremlin.

• Ukraine pressures NATO to open the way for its candidacy as a signal to Russia

• Russia warns Ukraine about the risk of a full-scale war in the East

"Every word of support counts and we appreciate it, but we also need practical support," replied the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, visiting the European capital to attend an extraordinary meeting to discuss the worsening of the situation and for whom the meeting in Brussels seeks to avoid the mistakes made in 2014, "when Russia was ready to act quickly and pursue its military objectives in Crimea and Donbas, while Western partners valued its reaction to what was happening on the ground."

Kuleba has demanded from the allies new “measures” at the “operational level”, such as a new round of sanctions against Moscow and the “reinforcement of the defensive capacities” of his country.

The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg (right), and the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, this Tuesday in Brussels.Francisco Seco / POOL / EFE

Russia, which had briefly announced military maneuvers a few days ago, has already spoken openly about the deployment that military observers and specialized analysts have been documenting for days.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, one of the men closest to the Russian president, assured on Tuesday that he has deployed two Army divisions and three airborne units along the borders with Ukraine.

"In response to the Alliance's military activities that threaten Russia, we have taken appropriate measures," said the minister at a meeting in the city of Severomorsk, near the Barents Sea, according to statements broadcast on state television.

Shoigu also accused the United States and NATO of increasing their military presence in the vicinity of Russian territory.

Moscow has assured that the military maneuvers, which have raised the alarm of the EU and NATO, will end in two weeks, but they have not specified whether the troops (or part of them) will remain on the ground.

"Every year in Europe, the Alliance conducts up to 40 major operational training events with a clear anti-Russian focus," concluded the Russian Defense Minister.

Russia has urged the United States, which it considers an "adversary", as the Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Ryabkov, bluntly remarked on Tuesday, to stay away from its territory "for its own good", and has warned that a Movement in the Black Sea or next to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed with a referendum considered illegal by the international community, will have consequences.

The United States and Russia are going through the worst moment of their relationship since the Cold War and this is, according to analysts, one of the factors of the great Russian military deployment that may be aimed at testing the Joe Biden Administration and the scope of your support for Ukraine.

This Tuesday, the US president emphasized to Putin the "unwavering commitment" of the United States to Ukraine.

In the first conversation since the controversy unleashed after Biden acknowledged in an interview that he considers Putin a "murderer", the American has also warned his Russian counterpart that he will act "firmly" in the face of cyber incursions and electoral interference and He has proposed to his Russian counterpart a summit in the coming months in a third country, according to the White House.

A soldier of the Ukrainian Army on the front line near Donetsk this Saturday.

OLEKSANDR KLYMENKO / Reuters

The week seems key in NATO's defensive strategy against the Moscow pawn movement.

After the meeting with Stoltenberg, the Ukrainian minister also met with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who landed early Tuesday in Brussels, on his second visit to the Belgian capital in three weeks.

This rare traveling frenzy will be joined on Wednesday by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who was in Germany this Tuesday.

Both Austin and Blinken have an appointment with Stoltenberg this Wednesday and will participate, from Brussels, in a meeting of the Atlantic Council, which will be joined by videoconference the rest of the foreign and defense ministers.

They are expected to address various issues, from the tension in Ukraine to the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, scheduled for May and just delayed to September.

During the meeting this afternoon, Secretary Blinken has expressed "concern about the deliberate actions of Russia to escalate tensions", through "aggressive rhetoric" and "increased violations of the ceasefire."

"We have to dissuade Moscow from a new escalation, even making it clear that the cost of any new military adventure would be too high," the Ukrainian minister tweeted after the confrontation with Blinken, which he recorded with a photo of both delegations arguing at a table face to face.

Kiev, Kuleba stressed at the press conference at NATO headquarters, is seeking a "diplomatic" solution to a conflict that has remained active on a slow fire and that adds some 14,000 deaths, according to the UN.

The death toll continues to drip, despite the ceasefire.

“Ukraine does not want war.

We are not planning any offensive or escalation ”, Kuleba assured.

The Foreign Minister has called on the Western allies to adopt new measures "no matter how expensive they are."

"If Moscow takes any reckless step and starts a new spiral of violence it will be costly in every way," he warned.

"But I still believe that we have all the tools available, not only to prevent Russia from taking a single step forward, but also to make it withdraw from the occupied territories of Ukraine."

Stoltenberg has remarked that there are strengthened ties between Kiev and NATO, such as those with other nearby countries, such as Sweden, Finland or Georgia, since it was granted the status of "partner with enhanced opportunities" in June last year.

He has also asked Moscow not to interfere in relations between the Atlantic Alliance and its Eastern partner: "It is a sovereign right of each nation, like Ukraine, to request membership" and "it is up to the 30 NATO allies to decide when Ukraine is ready to enter ”.

No one else, he has assured, has the right to "meddle or interfere in that process."

"Russia has to understand that Ukraine belongs to Western democracies," Kuleba stressed.

"Ukraine is not part of the Russian world and will never be considered as such."