Washington. November 25. INTERFAX - US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed Russia's actions on the border with Ukraine and issues of the upcoming meeting of NATO foreign ministers during a telephone conversation, the US State Department reported on Thursday.
"Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (...) reports of unusual Russian military activity near Ukraine," State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
The sides also touched upon issues on the agenda of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers scheduled for November 30 - December 1, Price said.
According to him, Blinken said that he "looks forward to the meeting of foreign ministers in Riga and dialogue on the full range of issues facing NATO."
Earlier, the American media reported on the concentration of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine. At the same time, Politico published satellite images of the movement of Russian military equipment near the town of Yelnya, Smolensk region, on the border of Russia with Belarus.
The press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov, speaking about these reports, said that "the quality of these publications is not even worth commenting on, and in general, they should not pay any attention to them, because you yourself saw that they are talking about the border with Ukraine, they show the border with Belarus and so on."
According to Peskov, "this very quality is the best evidence that it is not worth wasting time getting acquainted with such low-quality stuffing."
At the same time, American intelligence at the end of last week warned European allies about the growing threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine with the onset of cold weather, the CBS TV channel reported.
"The invasion depends on the weather, but may happen within a few weeks if there is no intervention from the West," informed sources from among the officials told CBS.
Sources note that the alleged buildup of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine has recently exceeded previous similar actions of the Russian authorities.
