NATO & UK Leaders Threaten "Unprecedented Sanctions" If Russian Invades Ukraine

LOCAL NEWS

• NATO & UK leaders agreed last night that “an unprecedented package of sanctions” should be imposed on Russia if it invades Ukraine.
  • All parties underscored the importance of diplomacy and international unity against growing Russian hostility, saying that it was the number 1 priority
• Stoltenberg recalled NATO's consistent two-vector approach to Russia, which includes strong deterrence and defense combined with dialogue.
  • He welcomed the additional defensive deployments of NATO Allies in the eastern part of the Alliance and stressed the need to further improve NATO's situational awareness and strengthen collective defense and deterrence
• Macron expects to have a conversation with Putin in the coming days to discuss ways to de-escalate the Ukraine crisis – which he highlighted to Western allies RE responses to Russia’s security guarantees.
  • "We are very concerned, but at the same time - we strive not to provoke additional ambiguity, additional volatility"
• Belarusian hacker group says it breached computers used by Belarus’s railway network and encrypted data stored on them in an effort to disrupt the movement of Russian troops into the country.
  • Says it will return the systems on condition that Belarus’s government stop Russian troops from entering the territory of Belarus, in addition to releasing 50 political prisoners who are in need of medical care