The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) military expansion eastward is the root cause of the escalating Russia-Ukraine crisis, and sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia will backfire on itself, said a German official. NATO military expansion infringes on Russia's security needs, and sending weapons to Ukraine by some member states of NATO and the European Union (EU) will only prolong the crisis and cause more damage to the Ukrainian people, said Klaus Ernst, a member of parliament and chairman of the German Bundestag's Committee on Climate and Energy.
