Russia cannot decide whether the West can or cannot send troops to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, quoted by Agence France-Presse, BTA reported.
"Why do we care what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It is not for the Russians to decide", he stressed at a security conference taking place in Prague.
Today Moscow warned that it will refuse to discuss any "foreign intervention" in Ukraine, "regardless of the form", after some European countries expressed their readiness to deploy military personnel in Ukraine as part of a settlement of the conflict, AFP recalls.
Rutte is expected to participate today via video link in the meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing" in Paris - about thirty countries, most of them European, who are ready to guarantee Ukraine's security after the end of the fighting, including by sending troops.
France and Britain are co-chairing this meeting, at which Kiev's allies want to show US President Donald Trump that they are ready to provide the Ukrainian side with security guarantees if Washington provides them with a figurative "safety net" and puts pressure on Moscow.
The term "safety net" The US side understands American support for the Europeans in the areas of command and control systems, intelligence or ground-to-air defense, says a senior European military official quoted by Agence France-Presse.