(Read the full article on aljazeera.com)

For the second time in a week, Germany has raised concerns over Russia’s military build-up along its border with Ukraine, as fears mount over a possible escalation in hostilities in the region, Al-Jazeera reported.

Moscow has in recent weeks amassed tens of thousands of troops as well as tanks and artillery near Ukraine’s eastern border. It also mobilised troops in the annexed Black Sea region of Crimea, which it seized in March 2014, the news organisation said. Meanwhile, fighting has intensified in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, where government forces have battled Russian-backed separatists since the rebels seized a swath of territory there in April 2014.

German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Wednesday told ARD public television she believed Russia was “trying everything to provoke a reaction” and was “just waiting for a move, so to speak, from NATO, to have a pretext to continue its actions”.

Her comments follow Chancellor Angela Merkel’s plea last Thursday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull back the troops.

Kramp-Karrenbauer stressed that NATO, of which Germany is a member, would stand by Ukraine in the conflict but added that neither the alliance nor Ukraine itself would be drawn into Russia’s “game”, according to Al-Jazeera.

She praised Kyiv for reacting in a “sober” manner so far and voiced doubt over Moscow’s claim that it had sent the troops for combat drills because of “threats” from NATO.

“If it is a manoeuvre like the Russian side says, there are international procedures through which one can create transparency and trust,” Al-Jazeera cited her as saying, adding that Germany was monitoring developments.