Russia Attacking Ukraine. NATO Is the Witness - Rasmussen

Russia is directly involved in destabilization of the situation in Ukraine. The Russian army is fighting on the Ukrainian territory.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said this in an interview to the Russian Kommersant, Censor.NET reports citing ZN.UA.

"We have witnessed the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Russia attacks Ukraine. Russia has illegally annexed Crimea," he said, noting that in the current situation, some NATO members are deeply concerned about their own security, as the Russian Federation has announced its right to interfere with the affairs of other states to protect the interests of the Russian-speaking minorities.

"Such statements cannot but cause concern of the Alliance members, especially of the Baltic countries," Rasmussen said.

Responding to a newspaper journalist's remark that "the Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that the armed forces are not directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict, but volunteers only," the Secretary General said: "We have many reasons to believe that Russia is directly involved in the destabilization of the situation in Ukraine. We have seen that Russian citizens were captured on the territory of Ukraine. So I think we are quite obviously witnessing the Russian intervention in Ukraine."

According to him, this fact has plenty of evidence.

"Our military agencies have published satellite images, which clearly shows that the Russian armed forces are deployed in the territory of Ukraine," the head of NATO said, adding that he has every confidence that the Russian army is fighting in Ukraine.

At the same time, he stressed that he does not consider Russia a direct threat to the security of the Allies.

"That's because we have a very strong collective defense. Russia and any other potential attacker know that an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on the entire Alliance. I think this fact has a very strong deterrent effect," he said.

It should be recalled that member-countries agreed to increase defense spending last week at the NATO summit in Wales. However, some Western media believe that NATO would not dare to stand up for the Baltic States or Poland, which have already started to get nervous because of the aggression of Russia against Ukraine.