NATO will seek meaningful discussions with Moscow early next year to address tensions amid a Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s border, alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
“We remain ready for meaningful dialogue with Russia and I intend to call a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council as soon as possible in the new year,” Mr. Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels.
Mr. Stoltenberg, however, made it clear that it was solely up to NATO and Ukraine to decide about a future membership of Kyiv.
Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that Russia was prepared to take “military-technical measures” in response to “unfriendly” Western actions over the Ukraine conflict.
Mr. Putin told defence ministry officials that if the West continued its “obviously aggressive stance”, Russia would take “appropriate retaliatory military-technical measures”.
“If this infrastructure moves further — if U.S. and NATO missile systems appear in Ukraine — then their approach time to Moscow will be reduced to seven or 10 minutes,” he said. Despite hinting at conflict, Mr. Putin said that Russia wants to avoid “bloodshed”.
