MOSCOW, 01 December 2021, (TON): Russia would pay a high price for any new military aggression against Ukraine, NATO and the United States warned as the Western military alliance met to discuss Moscow's possible motives for massing troops near the Ukrainian border.

President Vladimir Putin countered that Russia would be forced to act if US-led NATO placed missiles in Ukraine that could strike Moscow within minutes.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that now aspires to join the European Union and NATO, has become the main flashpoint between Russia and the West as relations have soured to their worst level in the three decades since the Cold War ended.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters "there will be a high price to pay for Russia if they once again use force against the independence of the nation Ukraine.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Stoltenberg, saying "any escalatory actions by Russia would be a great concern to the United States..., and any renewed aggression would trigger serious consequences."

Tensions have been rising for weeks, with Russia, Ukraine and NATO all staging military exercises amid mutual recriminations over which side is the aggressor.

Putin went further than previously in spelling out Russia's "red lines" on Ukraine, saying it would have to respond if NATO deployed advanced missile systems on its neighbour's soil.