RIGA, November 30. /TASS/. NATO guarantees the collective security of its members but not partners like Ukraine, to whom the alliance provides support, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference upon arrival in Latvia’s capital of Riga for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

"We must understand the difference between a NATO ally, for example Latvia, Poland and Romania, and a close and highly valued partner [such as] Ukraine, for which we provide support, training capacity, equipment, but for allies, we have security guarantees under Article Five," Stoltenberg told reporters when asked what kind of assistance NATO could provide to Kiev in case of Russia’s alleged military aggression.

This is the sixth time in the past five days that the NATO secretary general made a statement about Russia’s alleged military build-up on the border with Ukraine. He called on Russia for transparency and de-escalation, warning that in case of military aggression, NATO would make Moscow pay a high price. However, he declined to say if the alliance was considering taking any military steps to support Kiev.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Moscow clearly saw the West’s intentional media crusade to paint Russia as a threat to a political settlement in Ukraine. Peskov did not rule out that the crusade was just a disguise to cover up "the aggressive aims that Kiev may be nurturing".