This handout picture released by the Russian Defense Ministry on April 22, 2021 shows Russian forces landing a shore and taking part in a military drill along the Opuk training ground not far from the town of Kerch, on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of the Crimea. (VADIM SAVITSKY / RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY / AFP)
MOSCOW – Russia will station troops on its own territory near Ukraine's border due to tensions with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a Kremlin spokesman said on Sunday.
"We find it necessary to keep those troops due to a very tense situation and very unfriendly environment," Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with US broadcaster CNN.
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Russia isn’t considering a military action even if negotiations with the US and NATO on security guarantees fail
Dmitry Peskov, Spokesman, Kremlin
Russia has to take measures of precaution in response to NATO military build-up, drills and frequent flights of fighter jets and reconnaissance planes near the Russian borders, he said.
However, Russia is not considering a military action even if negotiations with the United States and NATO on security guarantees fail, Peskov stressed.
Nevertheless, Russia is "ready to take countermeasures" if both sides cannot reach a consensus, he said.
Earlier this week, Russian diplomats held talks with the United States in Geneva, with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna, and then with NATO in Brussels. They all ended without any breakthrough.
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This Sept 11, 2021 photo, released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, shows a view of the joint strategic exercise of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus Zapad-2021 at the Mulino training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia. (VADIM SAVITSKIY/RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE VIA AP, FILE)
Peskov told CNN that NATO is reluctant to promise that it will not grant Ukraine membership or deploy offensive weapons on the Ukrainian territory, which are part of Russia's red lines.
