Nato said on Monday it was putting forces on standby and reinforcing eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets, in what Russia denounced as an escalation of tensions over Ukraine.
Welcoming a series of deployments announced by alliance members in recent days, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said: “Nato will continue to take all necessary measures to protect and defend all allies, including by reinforcing the eastern part of the alliance.”
The move was a further signal that the west is bracing for Russia to attack its neighbour after massing an estimated 100,000 troops within reach of the Ukrainian border, although Russia denies any intention of invading.
Having engineered the crisis by surrounding Ukraine with forces from the north, east and south, Moscow is now citing the western response as evidence to support its narrative that Russia is the target, not the instigator, of aggression.
“As for specific actions, we see statements by the North Atlantic Alliance about reinforcement, pulling forces and resources to the eastern flank. All this leads to the fact that tensions are growing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “This is not happening because of what we, Russia, are doing. This is all happening because of what Nato and the US are doing and due to the information they are spreading.”
He accused the west of “hysteria” and putting out information“laced with lies”.
Global stock markets skidded as the prospect of a Russian attack quashed demand for riskier assets such as bitcoin, and bolstered the dollar and oil. The rouble hit a 14-month low against the dollar, and Russian stocks and bonds tumbled.
Russia has used its troop build-up to draw the west into discussions after presenting demands to redraw the security map of Europe. It wants Nato to scrap a promise to one day admit Ukraine and to pull back troops and weapons from former Communist countries in eastern Europe that joined it after the Cold War.
Washington says those demands are non-starters but it is ready to discuss other ideas on arms control, missile deployments and confidence-building measures.
Russia is awaiting a written US response this week after talks last Friday — the fourth round this month — produced no breakthrough.
‘Gloomy intelligence’
Asked whether he thought an invasion was imminent, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said intelligence was “pretty gloomy on this point”.
“I don’t think it’s by any means inevitable now, I think that sense can still prevail,” he told broadcaster, repeating warnings that invading Ukraine would be “a painful, violent and bloody business” for Russia.