NATO Warns Russia Of 'High Price' For Any Attack On Ukraine

Another Russian invasion of Ukraine would carry a “high price,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned, adding that the 30 allies together represent more than 50 percent of the global economy, David M. Herszenhorn reported for Politico.

Photo Insert: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a joint press point

“Any future Russian aggression against Ukraine would come at a high price and have serious political and economic consequences for Russia,” Stoltenberg said at a news conference following a day of meetings among allied foreign ministers in Riga, Latvia.

The United States and other Western allies have warned of a large mobilization of Russian forces and weaponry along the border with Ukraine, raising the risk of a potential new invasion.

Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014 and has backed armed separatists in a nearly eight-year-long war that continues in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass.

Russia carried out a similar mobilization of forces last spring but the US told allies that aspects of the current build-up seem even more alarming this time.

“The situation in and around Ukraine remains fluid and unpredictable,” Stoltenberg said Tuesday. “There is no certainty about Russia’s intentions. We see a significant and unusual concentration of forces, which is unjustified and unexplained and accompanied by heightened rhetoric and disinformation. And we know that Russia has used force before against Ukraine and other neighbors.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned NATO that deploying weapons or soldiers to Ukraine would cross a “red line” for the Kremlin and trigger a significant response.

Asked about his red lines over Ukraine during an investment conference, Putin said: “They are above all in the creation of threats to us which could come from [Ukraine].”

He continued: “We would have to create a similar threat for those who are threatening us,” before adding that Russia had the capacity to deploy hypersonic missiles, saying: “We can do that already now.”

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