Ukraine-Russia conflict: NATO 'will not deploy combat troops to Kyiv', says Stoltenberg

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will not be sending its troops to Ukraine, said the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. In a televised interview with CNN, the NATO chief said that the organisation will instead send a written response to Russia’s security proposals this week in parallel with the United States. The Russian Foreign Ministry had published two draft agreements regarding its security proposals and sought a response from the US and NATO. Earlier this month, Russia met with the US, NATO and other European officials as fears increased over Moscow’s possibility of launching an attack on its neighbour, Ukraine. 

"NATO will not deploy NATO combat troops to Ukraine," NATO chief Stoltenberg said in the televised interview.

"We are finalising at NATO the proposals, the written document we will send to them later this week. We will do that in parallel with the United States," he also informed.

NATO is willing to ‘sit down and discuss’ issues

The NATO chief said that the alliance is willing to “sit down and discuss arms control, disarmament, transparency on military activities, risk reduction mechanisms and other issues which are relevant for European security”. However, Stoltenberg, in the same interview, stressed that NATO is “not ready to compromise on core principles”.

It is to note that Stoltenberg’s remark came as US President Joe Biden also said that he has “no intention” of moving American or NATO troops into Ukraine. However, Biden stressed that Russia would face severe economic consequences if it invades its neighbouring nation. On Tuesday, the US delivered military assistance to Ukraine but the US President stated that any movement of US troops into Ukraine would be to reinforce NATO forces under the alliance’s Article 5 obligations if Russia continues its military buildup near Ukraine.

Biden said that the decision to deploy troops would be based on the measures taken by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Biden went on to say that the read-to-deploy action is a “NATO operation” instead of “a sole US operation”. The US President even reiterated warnings to Russia saying that if Putin “continued to build up” or if he “was to move” the troops into Ukraine, the US will be reinforcing its troops. 

(Image: AP)