Latvia's prime minister on Wednesday accused Russia of seeking to destabilise and split Europe with a series of actions including its latest build-up of troops on the border with Ukraine.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins described the build-up as "disturbing" and said it was the latest in a series of interconnected actions by the Kremlin including limits on gas supply, its buttressing of the regime in Belarus and disinformation.

Speaking after Latvia hosted NATO foreign ministers for a meeting in Riga, he called for NATO to boost its presence on the eastern flank of the alliance in the face of the Russian behaviour.

The build-up of troops on the border with Ukraine's pro-Moscow separatist regions prompted a warning from Washington that Russia was planning aggression in its neighbour and renewed fears of the flare-up of the conflict that began in 2014.

"This is all part of one interconnected set of events which seems to be on some level to destabilise or to create disunity in Europe," Karins said.

The "additional troops near the Ukrainian border is disturbing at least, because it's not clear what the Russian intent is," said Karins, whose country shares a border with Russia and like its two fellow Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania is a member of both the EU and NATO.

On the strategy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said: "I believe also that Putin's doctrine of somehow recreating a Russian-speaking empire, somewhat similar to the Soviet Union or other certainly seems high on the agenda."

- 'Pulled together' -

He said that the West should step up all kinds of assistance to Ukraine -- including military training and armaments -- as this would reduce rather than increase the risk of conflict.

"We should not be concerned about helping Ukraine because if there is a clear signal that we in the West would assist Ukraine more that could stop a further escalation," he said.

"If Russia were to get the idea that there would be no resistance that would be a bigger risk of actual heightened military conflict," he added.

He said that when Europe talks to Russia it should negotiate from a "position of strength" given that the European economy is far bigger than the Russian economy.

"Just as Europe is on some sense dependent on Russian fossil fuel exports, Russia is dependent on Europe cash imports. We are not at all a weak (European) Union," he said.

He argued that in the face of the Russian efforts to create disunity in Europe both NATO and the European Union had "pulled closely together" again and the alliance's meeting in Riga had showed this.

"NATO as a military alliance has of course a broad range of options," in case of Russian aggression, pointing to "heightened and targeted economic sanctions, probably very broad" that could be imposed.

He also reaffirmed the request from Baltic states for a stepped up NATO presence on their borders.

"At this point it would be very proportionate and understandable if NATO increased its footprint, also in the Baltics. It's not only a question of numbers but of capabilities, technologies and abilities."

US points to 'evidence' that Russia has plans for aggression against Ukraine
Riga (AFP) Dec 1, 2021 - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday Washington had seen "evidence" Russia could be planning an invasion on Ukraine, threatening Moscow with painful economic sanctions if it attacks.

"We're deeply concerned by evidence that Russia has made plans for significant aggressive moves against Ukraine, plans include efforts to destabilise Ukraine from within as well as large scale military operations," Blinken said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Latvia's capital Riga, accusing Moscow of massing "tens of thousands of additional combat forces" near the border.

"Now, we don't know whether President Putin has made the decision to invade. We do know that he's putting in place the capacity to do so on short order, should he so decide," he said.

Blinken insisted "diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve this potential crisis" ahead of a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Sweden on Thursday.

But he warned that there would be "far-reaching and long-lasting consequences" for Moscow if it pushed ahead with any aggression.

"We made it clear to the Kremlin that we will respond resolutely, including with a range of high-impact economic measures that we've refrained from using in the past," Blinken said.

The top US diplomat also insisted that NATO allies were "making sure that Ukraine has the means to defend itself".

And he said that the alliance would "look at what it needs to do in the event of further Russian aggression, to shore up its own defences" on discussion of bolstering forces along NATO's eastern flank.

Moscow, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backs separatists fighting Kiev, has strongly denied it is plotting an attack and blames NATO for fuelling tensions.

Moscow on Wednesday accused Ukraine of massing tens of thousands of troops in the country's east, as worries grow over an escalation.

Also on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for direct talks with Moscow as tensions mounted over the claims that Russia was laying the groundwork for an invasion.

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US, Russian foreign ministers to hold talks on Ukraine
Riga (AFP) Dec 1, 2021
US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm on Thursday amid renewed military tensions on the border between Russia and Ukraine, a United States official said Wednesday. The US Secretary of State will hold talks with Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) after meeting Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. Blinken was in the Latvian capital Riga on Wednesday where a meeting ... read more