UK Foreign Secretary calls out unacceptable Russian behaviour at NATO talks

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss today (Friday 07 January) made clear the UK’s support for Ukraine and stressed NATO’s important defensive role as she attended a virtual NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting.

Following the meeting, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said:

Russia’s military build-up on the border of Ukraine and in illegally-annexed Crimea is unacceptable. There is no justification for its aggressive and unprovoked stance towards Ukraine. We stand with our NATO allies in urging Russia to end its malign activity and adhere to international agreements it freely signed up to.

We will defend democracy in eastern Europe and around the world. Our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is unwavering. We are clear that any Russian incursion would be a massive strategic mistake, for which there would be a severe cost.

The Russian Government needs to de-escalate, pursue diplomatic channels and abide by its commitments on the transparency of military activities. We will be discussing this at the NATO-Russia Council next week.