OREANDA-NEWS The North Atlantic Alliance can calm down about the buildup of Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine, since they are already being withdrawn to permanent locations. Such an appeal was made by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko, Kommersant reports.

"Why did NATO suddenly bother with the mythical "buildup of Russian forces" in Belarus? The exercises are coming to an end, you can calm down. The units are returning to their permanent locations as planned," the diplomat said. He noted that NATO should not worry about its eastern flank, unlike the southern one, where "it has to deal with the consequences of its own interventions."

Earlier, Grushko said that Russia's response to NATO's proposals on security guarantees is not ready yet, but work is underway on it.

On February 17, the US leadership announced that Russia had increased its military presence on the border with Ukraine by seven thousand people.

Earlier, the official representative of the People's Militia (NM) of the DPR, Oleg Nikitin, said that the intelligence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) learned about the upcoming evacuation of the office of President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky and the Verkhovna Rada to Lviv.