NATO Accused Russia of Violating the Ceasefire Agreement in Ukraine

Russia's military activity on the Ukrainian border undermines all de-escalation efforts in eastern Ukraine, NATO said. "Russia violated the July 2020ceasefire agreement," said an alliance spokesman. The movement of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border is receiving more and more criticism in the international community. Russia's "destabilizing actions" undermine all efforts to de-escalate tensions in eastern Ukraine, a NATO spokesman told German newspaper Die Welt. The North Atlantic Alliance supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, said its representative in an article published on Tuesday, April 6. On April 1, the members of the alliance discussed the situation in the Black Sea. NATO member countries have expressed concern about Russia's large-scale military activities in and around Ukraine, the alliance official added. "The allies are also concerned that Russia violated the ceasefire agreement of July 2020, which resulted in the deaths of four Ukrainian soldiers last week," a source told Die Welt. The foreign ministries of Germany and France have previously called on the parties for restraint and immediate de-escalation, and also pointed to an increase in cases of ceasefire violations. EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell intends to discuss this issue with the Ukrainian side at the next summit of the foreign ministers of the EU countries. And the US asked Russia to explain the "provocations" on the border with Ukraine. Media: About 4,000 Russian military deployed to the border with Ukraine At the end of March, the American edition of The New York Times, citing unnamed interlocutors, reported about the transfer of about 4,000 Russian troops to the Ukrainian border. According to him, the European Command of the US Armed Forces raised the level of monitoring of the situation from "a possible crisis" to a "potentially imminent crisis" - the highest level, responding to the fact that Russia did not withdraw its troops from the region bordering with Ukraine after the exercises ended on March 23 ... And in social networks there were reports that Moscow is transferring additional troops to the Bryansk, Voronezh and Rostov regions, as well as to the territory of the annexed Crimea peninsula. Russia is moving its armed forces "within its territory at its own discretion" and "this should not bother anyone," Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov reacted to the publication.