NATO chief: alliance watching Russian troops near Ukraine

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that the alliance is closely monitoring an unusual concentration of Russian forces on the border with Ukraine, warning that similar troops were used by Moscow in the past to intervene in neighbouring countries.

Speaking at a defenc seminar in Berlin, Stoltenberg said NATO had seen a significant military buildup by Russia close to the borders of Ukraine lately.

"We are now closely monitoring the developments along the borders," he said. "This matters for NATO and we have the capacity, we have the capabilities to collect information, to monitor it closely and to understand what is going on there."

Stoltenberg said that the alliance had made clear to Russia that "we see their significant military buildup."

"We see an unusual concentration of forces and we know that they have used these type of forces before to actually intervene and invade other countries, Georgia and Ukraine," he added.