OREANDA-NEWS. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claims that the alliance does not see a practical "de-escalation" in the situation around Ukraine, although they receive "some optimistic" signals from Moscow about the desire to continue diplomatic efforts on security issues in Europe.

“We are seeing a massive Russian presence on the border with Ukraine, but we are also seeing messages from Moscow about their readiness to give diplomacy a chance. We are ready for negotiations to find a diplomatic solution, but we are ready for the worst case scenario,” he said before the meeting. in Brussels, defense ministers of the North Atlantic bloc.

"While we have not observed a de-escalation from Russia, if they really begin to withdraw troops, then we would welcome it. But this must be confirmed," Stoltenberg stressed.

Against the backdrop of unsubstantiated accusations in the West of preparing an invasion of Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Tuesday that the Russian Armed Forces would return to their places of permanent deployment after the exercises were over. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the withdrawal of the military to their places of deployment after the exercises is a common practice, there is nothing new in this.

From February 10 to 20, the joint Belarusian-Russian exercises "Allied Resolve-2022" are being held, within the framework of which the issues of suppressing and repelling external aggression, as well as countering terrorism and protecting the interests of the Union State will be worked out. Representatives of Russia and Belarus have repeatedly stated that the maneuvers are defensive in nature and do not threaten anyone.