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THE KREMLIN TODAY urged the United States to stop inflaming tensions after Washington sent several thousand troops to bolster NATO forces in eastern Europe amid the Ukraine crisis.
It comes as the secretary-general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg has raised concerns about the continued build-up of troops on the Ukrainian border, as Russia has now deployed more troops and military equipment to Belarus than at any time in the last 30 years.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the US should step raising tensions in Europe.
“We are constantly urging our American partners to stop escalating tensions on the European continent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Unfortunately, Americans are continuing to do it,” he said, adding that the most recent deployment of US troops to bolster NATO forces in Europe only worsened tensions.
With Russia refusing to pull back 100,000 troops poised on Ukraine’s borders, 1,000 US soldiers in Germany are being sent to Romania, and another 2,000 stationed in the United States are being flown to Germany and Poland.
“Obviously, these are not the steps aimed at de-escalating tensions, on the contrary, these are actions that lead to an increase in tensions,” Peskov said.
Therefore, he added, Russia’s concerns over NATO’s eastward expansion and US troop deployment are “absolutely clear, absolutely justified.”
“Any measures taken by Russia to ensure its own security and interests are also within reason,” the Kremlin spokesman added.
Western powers have been engaged in intense diplomatic efforts — coupled with the threat of sanctions against President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle — to deter what they fear to be a looming invasion of Ukraine, despite strenuous denials from Moscow.
It comes as the secretary-general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg raised concerns about the continued build-up of troops on the Ukrainian border.
“Over the last days, we have seen a significant movement of Russian military forces into Belarus. This is the biggest Russian deployment there since the Cold War,” Mr Stoltenberg told reporters at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
He said that Russian troop numbers in Belarus are likely to climb to 30,000, with the backing of special forces, high-end fighter jets, Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, and S-400 ground-to-air missile defence systems.
“So, we speak about a wide range of modern military capabilities. All this will be combined with Russia’s annual nuclear forces exercise, expected to take place this month,” Mr Stoltenberg said.
He called on Russia to “de-escalate”, and repeated warnings from the West that “any further Russian aggression would have severe consequences and carry a heavy price”.
Nato has no intention of deploying troops to Ukraine should Russia invade, but it has begun to reinforce the defences of nearby member countries – notably Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
The 30-nation military alliance also plans to beef up its defences in the Black Sea region near Bulgaria and Romania.
© AFP 2022 with additional reporting by Press Association
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Trading conditions for the company in Britain is also challenging. The prices they charge in Ireland is 20-30% more than in Britain. Maybe if they reduce the rip off charges in Ireland, people will return.
Yeah bobby dinner for two with a bottle of wine and dessert €14.50. What a rip off !!
We are not known as Treasure Ireland for nothing.
Their meal deal has always been good value but they are considerably more expensive than other stores of equal quality.
@David when you see that it’s only £10 for the same offer in UK/NI, then yes it is.
Sad to say I buy from M&S.co.uk and use parcel motel. I get the exact same stuff for as much as half the price as buying it on M&S.ie
Nothing sad about it! A very clever thing to do, moneymaid.
I don’t buy ready made meals David, if that’s what you like then good for you. But at €14.50 you still pay more than those in Britain, like I said!!
I have to laugh…. Be thankful that it just has to come across the Irish Sea that 20-30% markup is just them passing on higher costs.
By the time they ship it out to the M&S in Hong Kong. eggs are €4.2 a half dozen and still have £1 price tag, bacon goes for €8 for something with a £1.99 price tag and a 60p yogurt sells for €2.20
And affluent Asian and western consumers are happy to snap it up with none of the complaints.
People don’t really have the cash to be paying over the odds in M&S,reflected in the massive trade that penneys & aldi/lidl are seeing
M&S fruit and veg is second to none. I don’t mind paying a little more for actual taste. Plus I don’t have to throw it out the next day cos it’s gone mouldy unlike some other grocery retailers I could mention.
Maybe you should pay more attention to the fruit you pick?
I do as it happens
Linda, I agree…in some of the other stores the fruit is like a brick, then overnight it’s shite and not edible and has to be binned, M&S fruit is worth the extra…if I were rich, if I even had a job, I’d do all my shopping in M&S, the food is top quality.
They buy very little Irish sourced products and majority of Irish products are from NI. Need to follow Aldi and SuperValu in promoting fresh Irish food instead of shipping most of food from Britain.
Kevin
The only GB to-night worth commenting about is
Germany v Brazil.
Losers Germany, Brazil Triumphs?
Well said Bobby.
A sound comment Bobby.
I think a lot of companies are in the sh**s here. I’m looking at a British company that I work for, they’re cutting hours left right and centre and they pay us next to nothing and before you ask, as a manager I’m on about 22k/year before tax. I’m not bitching and moaning a job is a job I know, but here they are cutting hours expecting us to do the same amount of work and in the same time frame week to week. Yet they still tell the robots in suits as we call them to tell us profits are growing year on year yet individual who store sales are in deficit most weeks and months. I think there is a lot of companies that are going to cut their losses and get outta here quite soon and I personally feel that the government has a lot to answer for regarding this.
Gareth Brooks!
Ah please don’t Kevin.
Crying at home with my cowboy hat and bible as we speak
Any wonder with the clowns in DCC
Get settled in Limerick first M&S and see what happens !
If they stocked some more Irish food it would do them some good – for example no Bord Bia approved Irish sourced meat helping support Irish jobs in M&S – they should take a leaf out of aldi’s book and see how they win business here by supporting high quality local producers.
have your say