NATO to decide next move on rUSsia border after consultations: top us official

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NATO to decide next move on rUSsia border after consultations: top us official

The NATO alliance will decide what the next move will be after consultations next week, the top U.S. diplomat for European affairs, WASHINGTON, Nov 26, Reuters said on Friday that all options are on the table in response to Russia's 'large and unusual troop build-up near Ukraine's border.

Karen Donfried, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, told reporters in a telephone briefing that all options are on the table and there is a toolkit that includes a whole range of options.

She said that it is now for the alliance to decide what next moves NATO wants to take, as well as a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Latvia and Sweden next week to attend NATO and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE meetings. She said that Moscow's large and unusual troop build up would be top of the agenda.

She said that next week we will talk about our assessment of what is going on on Russia's border with Ukraine and we will begin that conversation about what options are on the table and what NATO as an alliance would like to do together.

U.S. NATO and Ukrainian officials have raised concerns over unusual Russian troop movements closer to Ukraine in recent weeks, suggesting that Moscow could launch a attack on its neighbor, accusations Russia has rejected as fear-mongering.

Asked if Blinken was going to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov while in Stockholm, Donfried said she had no announcements to make on such a bilateral but added: Stay tuned. The head of Ukraine's military intelligence told the Military Times this weekend that Russia had more than 92,000 troops gathered around Ukraine's borders and was preparing for an attack by the end of January or beginning of February.

Moscow dismissed such suggestions as inflammatory and said it was not threatening anyone and defended its right to deploy troops as it wished.

Russia's intentions remain unclear, and East-West tensions are high, with Ukraine, Russia and NATO all conducting military drills and Moscow accusing Washington of rehearsing a nuclear attack on Russia earlier this month.

Asked if recent escalation has caused Washington to consider sending permanent troops in NATO's eastern flank, Donfried said that NATO foreign ministers would be discussing the wider strategy for the alliance's posturing in the 21st century.