Jan. 24 (UPI) —<\/span> NATO announced on Monday that it’s placing additional military forces on standby and sending ships and fighter jets to Eastern Europe to deter and guard against a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine — a standoff that concerns several Western nations, including the United States.<\/p>\n The military alliance said it’s adding forces in the Baltic area as a show of force intended to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from any possible designs he has on crossing the border into Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n<\/article>\n “NATO allies are putting forces on standby and sending additional ships and fighter jets to NATO deployments in eastern Europe, reinforcing allied deterrence and defense as Russia continues its military build-up in and around Ukraine,” NATO said in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n The alliance said that Denmark sent a frigate to the Baltic Sea and is ready to send multiple F-16 fighter jets to Lithuania. It also said that Spain is sending ships and France is prepared to send troops to Romania under NATO command.\n<\/p>\n The Netherlands is sending F-35 fighter jets to Bulgaria and putting a ship and land-based units on standby.<\/p>\n “The United States has also made clear that it is considering increasing its military presence in the eastern part of the alliance,” NATO added.<\/p>\n President Joe Biden speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin by video phone at the White House on December 7, 2021, to discuss Moscow’s military buildup near its border with Ukraine. Photo courtesy the White House Photo\/UPI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The deployment of forces follows rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine — particularly along Ukraine’s eastern border, where about 100,000 Russian troops have been stationed for months, stoking fears that Moscow at some point will invade the former Soviet state. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, worsening a rift between Ukrainian forces and pro-Moscow separatists in the country.\n<\/p>\n “I welcome allies contributing additional forces,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. “NATO will continue to take all necessary measures to protect and defend all allies, including by reinforcing the eastern part of the alliance.<\/p>\n “We will always respond to any deterioration of our security environment, including through strengthening our collective defense.”<\/p>\n NATO was formed after World War II as a collective defense coalition and has 30 member states. Although Ukraine is not presently a member of the alliance, NATO recognizes it as an aspiring member country. Putin has said that Russia, which is not part of the alliance, strongly opposes Ukraine joining NATO.\n<\/p>\n NATO noted that it significantly increased its presence in Eastern Europe after Russia’s annexation of Crimea eight years ago. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland all received military support from NATO following the controversial Russian move.<\/p>\n The government in Ireland has expressed concern in recent days about Russian military drills off its coast. Monday, Ireland foreign minister Simon Coveney said the drills are “not welcome.” Officials in Britain said over the weekend that Putin is planning to overtake Ukraine and install a pro-Moscow regime in Kiev.<\/p>\n Despite its troop buildup near the Ukrainian border, Moscow has repeatedly denied that its planning any invasion.<\/p>\n Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said concerns over a future Russian invasion are “empty and groundless,” according to the state-run TASS news agency, and he accused NATO of escalating tensions.<\/p>\n U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Russia and Putin that there will be consequences for any attack against Ukraine. On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States will respond if a “single additional Russian force” crosses the border into Ukraine.<\/p>\n Blinken and Peskov met for talks in Switzerland over the weekend, with Ukraine as the central issue, but reached no agreement.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1\/4 Ukrainian troops participate in a military exercise at a training ground near Kiev, Ukraine, on December 18, 2021. File Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko\/EPA-EFE Jan. 24 (UPI) — NATO announced on Monday that it’s placing additional military forces on standby and sending ships and fighter jets to Eastern Europe to deter and guard against a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":764185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-764184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/1643036238_40_ph1.jpg\"\/)
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Ukrainian troops participate in a military exercise at a training ground near Kiev, Ukraine, on December 18, 2021. File Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko\/EPA-EFE<\/p>\n