TEMPO.CO, Moscow - A band of world leaders will gather for a G7 emergency meeting to discuss Russia's annexation of Crimea. The meeting comes after NATO warned that Russian troop build-up in Crimea posed a wider threat to other former Soviet nations.
The meeting was hastily organized today on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in the Netherlands. The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are scheduled to discuss the crisis as Russian troops continue to tighten their grip on Crimea, having taken over a total of 189 Ukrainian military sites.
NATO's highest-ranking military commander spoke on Sunday, saying Russia had increased the number of soldiers on Ukraine's eastern border, large enough to pose a threat to other former Soviet nations. "The force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizeable and very, very ready," said General Philip Breedlove.
Also on Sunday, Ukraine's head of national security Andriy Parubiy, said that "the aim of Putin is not Crimea but all of Ukraine. His troops massed at the border are ready to attack at any moment."
On the other hand, Anatoly Antonov, Russia's defense minister denied that Russia has intention to launch attacks against other former Russian Federation countries.
"Russian armed forces do not undertake any undeclared military activity that would threaten the security of neighboring countries," Antonov said.
AL JAZEERA | CHOIRUL
