Russias defence minister called on Tuesday for the deployment of reinforcements to Crimea and southern Russia, citing the worsening crisis in Ukraine and the buildup of foreign forces nearby.

Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of defence ministry top brass it was a "priority" to deploy a "full and self-reliant group of troops in the direction of Crimea", Russian news agencies reported.

He said the "situation in Ukraine has sharply worsened and the foreign military presence has increased very close to our border."

Shoigu said the "military and political situation" in southwest Russia had "changed significantly since the start of this year."

Russia is deeply concerned at NATOs move eastwards and President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of provoking the crisis in Ukraine in order to "revive" the military bloc.

NATO this month agreed to set up a new rapid response force that would be ready to deploy within a few days and also to maintain a "continuous presence" in its eastern member states.

Putin said last month that it was necessary to "implement all of the countrys defence measures fully and promptly, including of course in Crimea and Sevastopol, where we have to de facto create military infrastructure from scratch."

Russias Black Sea fleet is based in Crimea and Moscow announced in July that it had begun expanding and modernising it with new ships and submarines.

Putin ordered the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March, saying later he had righted a wrong by reclaiming a peninsula that used to belong to the Soviet republic of Russia before 1954.

Source: ANTARA