Warns Moscow Not To Try To Attack Ukraine, NATO Says Russia Will Bear Consequences

Illustration of Russian soldiers on the border with Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov)

JAKARTA - Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg warned Russia on Friday that any attempt to attack Ukraine would result in losses.

The warning comes amid growing concerns about Russia's military buildup in the region near the borders of its former Soviet Union neighbor.

Ukraine says Moscow has about 90,000 troops near their common border after large-scale war games in western Russia earlier this year.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Russia's 41st army unit remained near Yelnya, about 260 kilometers (160 miles) north of the border. Moscow, meanwhile, denies it is planning an invasion, refusing to provide details about troop movements on its own territory.

"If Russia uses force against Ukraine that will incur 'costs', it will have consequences", NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said as quoted by the Daily Sabah on November 27, ahead of the 30-nation military organization's foreign ministers meeting in Latvia from November 30 to December 1, where Russia's activities will be at the top of the agenda.

The Russian military on the Ukrainian border. (Wikimedia Commons/Anton Holoborodko)

"This is the second time this year Russia has gathered such a large and unusual concentration of troops in the region", Stoltenberg told reporters.

He added that this includes tanks, artillery, armored units, drones, and electronic warfare systems, as well as combat-ready troops.

"This military buildup is unwarranted and unexplained. It increases tensions and risks miscalculations", Stoltenberg stressed.

He acknowledged, "there is no certainty about Russia's intentions" but said, "this is a military buildup by a country that has invaded Ukraine before".

Russia annexed Ukraine's the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 after the president of the Moscow-friendly country was ousted from power by mass protests. Weeks later, Russia threw its support behind a separatist insurgency that broke out in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of sending troops and weapons to support the rebels. Moscow denies this, saying Russians joining the separatists are volunteers. More than 14,000 people died in the fighting that devastated the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas.

To note, a 2015 peace agreement brokered by France and Germany helped end large-scale fighting, but attempts to reach a political settlement have failed. Sporadic fighting continued along the tense line of contact.

Meanwhile, NATO will not be able to provide Ukraine with substantial military support in time to make a difference to Russian forces, so economic measures such as Western sanctions are more likely to be used to incur financial costs on Moscow.