“NATO has no plans to send troops to Ukraine”

“We do not plan to send NATO combat troops to Ukraine... we are focusing on offering support”, Stoltenberg said during an interview for the British broadcaster, BBC on January 30th.

“There is a difference between a country that is a member of NATO and a valuable partner country such as Ukraine”.

Stoltenberg's comments have come at the time of increasing tensions between NATO and Moscow, as Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, which has raised concerns about the invasion.

The Kremlin, which has denied plans for invasion as in 2014 when it took over the Ukrainian Crime Peninsula, has insisted on recent negotiations with Washington and NATO on certain guarantees that Ukraine and the former members of the Soviet Union do not join the Western alliance.

Ukraine aims at NATO membership but still does not have an action plan for membership, which would introduce the conditions for becoming part of it.

NATO has said its “open door policy” is not negotiated and Washington has stressed that sovereign states have the right to decide on their own military alliances.

The US warns that Ukraine's conquest would be rrove “”

Following the US response to Moscow's demands, Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron on January 28th that he has appeared to have replaced Moscow's “security concerns.

NATO has said it is prepared to increase its presence in Eastern European member states if Russia invades Ukraine and some coalition member states have offered military equipment to Kiev.

Washington has said it aims at diplomatic solutions to the crisis and that Russia must remove military presence near the border with Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he expects to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming weeks for another round of negotiations, but Putin will decide how to respond to the American position on Moscow's demands.

Moscow has supported separatists in the battle east of Ukraine, which has claimed the lives of more than 13,200 people since 2014, the same year Russia has annexed Crime. / REL/