As Russia crisis escalates, Harris extols NATO unity

MUNICH — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday heralded NATO unity during the escalating Ukraine crisis and warned Russia that the U.S. and Western allies stood ready to respond with tough sanctions if President Vladimir Putin moves forward with an invasion of Ukraine.

In a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg as the annual Munich Security Conference got under way, Harris thanked the alliance for “all that you have done” throughout the crisis.

“We remain, of course, open to and desirous of diplomacy, as it relates to the dialogue and the discussions we have had with Russia, but we are also committed, if Russia takes aggressive action, to ensure there will be severe consequences in terms of the sanctions we have discussed,” Harris told Stoltenberg. “And we know the alliance is strong in that regard.”

Harris and her top national security aides huddled with Stoltenberg after President Biden on Thursday in Washington warned that “every indication” suggests Russia is “prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.”

Russia has massed as many as 190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine, said Michael Carpenter, the permanent U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In addition to troops along the border, in neighboring Belarus and in Crimea, he said the estimate includes Russian-led forces in eastern Ukraine and also internal security units deployed to these areas.

Harris said it was “intentional” that she held her first meeting at the annual security conference with NATO’s secretary general. The administration is trying to drive the message to Putin that the crisis has only bolstered the 30-country military alliance’s resolve to push back against Moscow’s aggression.

Harris also met with Latvian President Egils Levits, Lithuania President Gitanas Nauseda, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to discuss the latest developments related to Russia’s buildup on Ukraine’s border and U.S. readiness to further reinforce NATO allies on the eastern flank of the alliance. Nauseda urged the U.S. to create a “permanent presence” in Lithuania.