Russia accuses the US of aggravating tensions by putting its troops on alert due to the situation in Ukraine

Russia denounced on Tuesday the alerting of 8,500 US soldiers due to the situation in Ukraine and accused Washington of “exacerbating tensions.” “We note these US actions with great concern,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.

According to this official, the United States is “de facto (…) exacerbating tensions” with this attitude.

On Monday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced that U.S put on alert some 8,500 soldiers who could be deployed as part of the troops of the OTAN in the context of the crisis in Ukraine.

These troops would intervene in support of NATO’s rapid reaction force, which has 40,000 soldiers.

The heightened alert level helps prepare troops to be ready to go in five days instead of 10, the spokesman explained.

The reaction force “has not been activated, it is NATO that must do it”, underlined John Kirby.

“We are not deploying them now,” he stressed. “We are not saying that diplomacy is dead,” he added.

Western countries accuse Russia of having deployed more than 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine and of threatening this neighboring country with an invasion.

Russia denies that he intends to launch an offensive, but links the de-escalation to the acceptance of some demands such as the non-expansion of NATO to include Ukraine. His demands have been described as unacceptable by the international community, but the United States promised to give a written response to Moscow in the coming days.

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