Spain's foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares assures that European countries are united in their stance regarding the border tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia has moved tens of thousands of its military forces on its borders with Ukraine. The Western nations see a possibility of Moscow launching an invasion of Kyiv. However, Russia dies such an allegation but insists that it could make unspecified military action if the US and its European allies deny its demands.
On Thursday, Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced that Spain had sent warships to join NATO naval forces in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as tensions in the region continue to rise, as per Reuters.
According to Albares, the country is still pushing to solve the issue with diplomacy as much as possible. Thus, he calls on concerned nations to "give dialogue a chance,"
"If dialogue does not bear fruit, of course, Spain will stand with its European partners and its NATO allies united in deterrence," Albares said on Friday.
Russia Demands NATO Forces to Leave Bulgaria and Romania
Meanwhile, according to a report published by US News, Russia seeks to remove NATO forces in the European nations of Romania and Bulgaria.
On Friday, the Russian foreign ministry made the statement as Moscow demanded valid and enforceable assurances from NATO that the alliance will cease its expansion and revert to its 1997 borders.
The ministry also said that Russia demands all foreign military forces, weapons, and hardware to be pulled out from the two countries.
In a previous security talk in Geneva, Russia told NATO to guarantee to reject Ukraine's desire to join the alliance and halt its eastward expansion. But the U.S. and its Western allies turned down Russia's demands. The said talks, according to observers, resulted in no breakthroughs.
Top Officials of US and Russia Engage in Talks
On Friday, senior officials of the United States and Russia meet in Switzerland in the hope of de-escalating tensions over Ukraine.
Following a trip across Europe to solidify US allies' commitments to impose heavy sanctions on Russia if it goes ahead with an invasion of Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Geneva to discuss with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
On Wednesday, Blinken visited Kyiv to reassure Ukraine of US backing. Talks with German, French followed the meeting, and senior British officials in Berlin on Thursday,
Blinken has accused Russia of spreading disinformation in order to destabilize Ukraine. He also stated that this week's diplomatic endeavors enabled him to represent a common goal of Western countries to Russia and urge Moscow to back down.
Earlier, the US government accused Russia of planning a false-flag operation in which operatives are dispatched to rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to perpetrate acts of sabotage and afterward blame Kyiv. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, on the other hand, denied the US allegations.
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