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NATO has no plans to deploy troops in Ukraine - NATO chief

The NATO chief said the aid package would involve practical cooperation allowing Ukraine, for example, to participate in NATO military exercises

© EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS

MADRID, June 15 /ITAR-TASS/. NATO has no plans to deploy troops on the territory of Ukraine torn by violence, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Sunday.

In an interview with the Spanish daily El Pais, Rasmussen talked about the armed conflict in Ukraine and NATO’s relations with Russia.

Rasmussen said NATO was preparing a package of measures to submit to its member countries’ foreign ministers at the end of this month, which would include assistance to Ukraine in reforming its defense sector and modernizing its armed forces.

The NATO chief said the aid package would involve practical cooperation allowing Ukraine, for example, to participate in NATO military exercises.

Rasmussen also did not rule out that an individual NATO member country could take part in military exercises on the territory of Ukraine.

Speaking about NATO’s measures in the context of security in Europe, Rasmussen said the alliance had strengthened the protection of air space over the Baltic states, deployed NATO ships in the Baltic and Black Seas and held drills in the Baltic countries and Poland.

Rasmussen said NATO planned long-term measures in the context of Russia’s Ukraine policy to guarantee the effective protection of NATO allies but said he regretted this because the base interests of Russia and NATO coincided and the best thing for both sides would be to maintain “constructive cooperation.

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