NATO to Discuss Response to the Situation in Azov - State Department

Washington intends to develop a joint position with its European allies on Russia’s actions in the Kerch Strait. NATO foreign ministers at the meeting in December 4-5 in Brussels will discuss the situation in the Kerch Strait to focus on sizing an allied alliance-wide response to the Russian aggression, State Department spokesperson told reporters on Monday, December 3. “We’ve coordinated very closely over the last several days with European allies both in the NATO format and in the EU format, and right now we’re focused on sizing an allied alliance-wide response”, noted diplomat. At the same time, he stressed that Washington expects more efforts from European allies in confronting Russia. “We plan to build on recent U.S. statements pressing Russian leadership to release the detained crew members and ships that were taken into custody in the recent Kerch incident. We are calling on European allies to show leadership in tackling a problem that’s in Europe’s own backyard”, State Department spokesperson noticed. He also clarified that the United States supports Ukraine in protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity and “want to see European allies take greater responsibility for a security problem that’s just 200 miles from Germany’s border”. According to the diplomat “the Kerch Strait act of aggression marked an unmistakable escalation on the part of the Russians, because it was the first time that they were openly using their own forces and being very unapologetic about it. Source: Korrespondent