Nato demanded yesterday that Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine as US President Barack Obama and his Western allies held a summit intended to buttress defences against Russia in the biggest strategic shift since the Cold War.
While Western leaders discussed tougher sanctions against Russia over continued fighting in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin dangled the prospect of an imminent ceasefire in the five-month-old armed revolt by pro-Russian separatists.
“We call on Russia to end its illegal and self-declared annexation of Crimea,” Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen declared as the 28 Nato leaders met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a golf resort near the Welsh city of Newport.
“We call on Russia to pull back its troops from Ukraine and stop the flow of arms, fighters and funds to the separatists,” Rasmussen said. “We call on Russia to step back from confrontation and take the path of peace.”
Moscow has thousands of combat troops in Ukraine
His statement set the tone for a two-day meeting marked by the most serious east-west standoff since the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, as well as alarm at territorial gains by Islamist insurgents in Iraq and Syria. Poroshenko, whose forces have suffered a string of setbacks in the last week, told reporters he would order a ceasefire today if an agreement on a peace plan to end the war in eastern Ukraine is signed at talks in Minsk.
“What we need now for peace and stability is just two main things: first, that Russia withdraw their troops, and second, to close the border,” he said.
A Nato military officer said Moscow had “several thousand” combat troops and hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles operating in Ukraine. The Kremlin denies it has any forces fighting alongside the rebels.
The White House said Obama and the leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Italy agreed on the sidelines of the summit that Russia should face “increased costs” for its actions. French President Francois Hollande said tougher EU sanctions, due to be adopted on Friday, would depend on events in the coming hours.
The Nato leaders also discussed how to tackle Islamic State militants who have captured swathes of Iraq and Syria, in a new threat on the alliance’s southeastern flank, and how to stabilise Afghanistan when Nato forces leave at the end of the year.
The Ukrainian leader yesterday sought arms, training for his armed forces from his Western partners as well as political support against Russian President Vladimir Putin.