BRUSSELS, 11 December 2021, (TON): NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has rejected Russian demands to rescind a 2008 commitment to Ukraine that the country would one day become a member of the Western military alliance.

The remarks came after Russia’s foreign ministry said that NATO should formally scrap a 2008 declaration to grant membership to Georgia and Ukraine, two former Soviet republics.

Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels “NATO’s relationship with Ukraine is going to be decided by the 30 NATO allies and Ukraine, no one else.”

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 while allegedly supporting separatist rebels in the country’s eastern Donbas region. Russian troops also occupy two breakaway regions of Georgia.

In the past few weeks, Russia has moved about 100,000 troops to Ukraine’s border, sounding alarm bells in Washington and at NATO’s Brussels headquarters.

US President Joe Biden spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy days after he spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The US president urged the Russian leader to take the path of diplomacy to de-escalate the situation or face harsh economic sanctions.