According to a Deutschlandtrend poll conducted for the German television ARD, more than half of Germans reject the possibility of a quick entry of Ukraine into NATO.
31 percent of respondents spoke in favor of excluding Ukraine’s membership in NATO for the next few years, while 22 percent of respondents were in favor of permanent exclusion, which in total gave 53 percent answers rejecting the possibility of a quick inclusion of Ukraine in a number of NATO countries.
Just 28 percent of Nemtsov decided that Ukraine should not be denied membership in the Alliance, while 19 percent of respondents were unwilling or unable to answer this question.
Russia is concentrating troops
For several weeks now, Russia has been concentrating troops near the borders of Ukraine. On February 10, Russia and Belarus launched the Allied Resilience exercise, the first part of which was the strategic transfer of Russian forces to Belarus and their development. On February 13, maneuvers began in the Black Sea. Both projects were supposed to end on February 20th. On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that after the end of the exercises, Russian troops began to load and return to the garrisons. Russia has assured that the soldiers who participated in the exercises in Belarus will return to units in Russia.
Recently, Western countries have made diplomatic efforts to stop the Russian invasion; French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Moscow, and US President Joe Biden spoke with President Vladimir Putin. Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau met with the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov.
Moscow denies that it intends to attack Ukraine, but demands from the United States and NATO guarantees not to extend the Alliance to Ukraine and not withdraw its infrastructure “from the borders of Russia.” As a possible date for the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine, Wednesday, February 16, was indicated. There was no military attack, but – according to information from NATO countries – Russia continues to expand its military potential near the borders of Ukraine.