Nato says no sign of Russian troop drawback from Ukrainian border

Alliance defence ministers meeting in Brussels said they remained “gravely concerned” by the Russian military build-up and again urged the Kremlin to revert to the “path of diplomacy” in line with its international commitments.

General secretary Jens Stoltenberg said they were now considering establishing new battlegroups in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe to counter the threat from Moscow, which he described as “the new normal”.

Britain has previously offered to send RAF jets and warships to the region to strengthen the alliance presence there.

In a joint statement, the defence ministers said: “We are gravely concerned by the very large-scale, unprovoked and unjustified Russian military build-up in and around Ukraine and in Belarus.

“We urge Russia, in the strongest possible terms, to choose the path of diplomacy, and to immediately reverse its build-up and withdraw its forces from Ukraine in accordance with its international obligations and commitments.”

Mr Stoltenberg said that while they welcomed signs that Russia was prepared to continue with diplomacy, they had not seen any signs of de-escalation on the ground.

“What we see today is that Russia maintains a massive invasion force ready to attack, with high-end capabilities from Crimea to Belarus. This is the biggest concentration of forces in Europe since the Cold War,” he said.

“Moscow has made it clear that it is prepared to contest the fundamental principles that have underpinned our security for decades, and to do so by using force. I regret to say that this is the new normal in Europe.”

Britain has already said it is doubling the number of troops in Estonia while sending 350 Royal Marine commandos to Poland.

Four additional RAF Typhoon jets are heading to Cyprus to join Nato patrols over eastern Europe while offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent will shortly be joined in the eastern Mediterranean by HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who has been attending the meeting in Brussels, said: “Alongside our Nato allies, we are deploying troops and assets on land, sea and air to bolster European defences in response to the build-up of Russian military forces on the border of Ukraine.

“Nato and our allies have been clear that an invasion of Ukraine will be met with severe consequences. De-escalation and diplomacy remain the only path out of this situation.”

Russia’s defence ministry earlier claimed its troops were returning to their bases following the conclusion of military exercises.

On Wednesday, it released a video showing armoured vehicles moving across a bridge away from Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

A day earlier, the ministry reported the start of a pullback of troops following military exercises near Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson kept up efforts to maintain a united diplomatic alliance in response to the Russian military build-up.

In a call with Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida the two leaders agreed the international community needed to stand united in the face of Russian aggression.

“An invasion would shake the foundations of international order, and have severe consequences, they agreed,” a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

The Prime Minister has warned that Russia will face “very tough” new sanctions if it invades Ukraine, but Moscow’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the UK would face reciprocal action if that happened.

“Sanctions could be imposed against any legal entities and individuals just for being Russian,” Mr Lavrov claimed about the UK plans at a press conference in Moscow.

Warning against a new round of “sanction wars”, he said: “Both the Russian government and our parliament, they won’t be idle when they see such things are happening in the West.”

Russia has insisted it has no plans to invade Ukraine and has raised concerns about Nato’s expansion in eastern Europe.

In Ukraine, a “day of national unity” was being marked on the day some analysts had predicted an invasion would take place.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address to the nation: “We can defend our home only if we stay united.”

Although no invasion has been launched, the country was hit by a cyberattack which targeted its defence ministry and banks on Tuesday.

Former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers suggested the risk of an invasion “was never quite as high as was being portrayed by some western governments”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think that President Putin ever decided to invade the country and, indeed, I think it would always have been a very risky course for him to have taken.”

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova mocked the West over suggestions an invasion could take place on Wednesday.

She added: “Even the withdrawal of a number of Russian units to their permanent duty stations after the end of the exercises was presented as a cunning manoeuvre designed to divert attention from the impending invasion.”