MOSCOW, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The rouble pared gains and slipped from 75 against the dollar on Wednesday, as NATO accused Russia of sending more troops to join a military build-up around Ukraine after Moscow had said it was withdrawing forces and was open to diplomacy.
The rouble had recovered this week as fears eased of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, after Moscow reported a pullback of some forces from the border.
But the United States and NATO said Russia was still building up troops around Ukraine, questioning President Vladimir Putin's stated desire to negotiate a solution to the crisis.
The rouble slipped to 75.24 do the dollar as of 1443 GMT, up 0.1% on the day, moving away from the day's peak of 74.8325.
The rouble has returned to levels seen on Friday before its sharpest single-session drop in nearly two years, caused by Western nations' calls to their citizens to leave Ukraine.
Russia denies it has any plans to invade.
Versus the euro, the rouble added 0.1% to 85.44 .
While the rouble remains volatile and could weaken sharply if geopolitical risks increase, it also retains strong fundamental support from a record current account surplus and the central bank's rate hikes that last week took the key interest rate to 9.5%, its highest since early 2017.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on Wednesday said possible new Western sanctions against Russian banks could lead to a spike in market volatility, but argued the country would be able to withstand restrictions thanks to abundant reserves.
Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.9% at $95 a barrel, trading near its highest since September 2014 and supporting Russian stock indexes.
The dollar-denominated RTS index rose 1.5% to 1,520.7 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.9% higher at 3,633.4 points. (Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Andrew Heavens and David Holmes)
