Status: 02/15/2022 11:07 a.m
According to the Kremlin, some Russian soldiers on the Ukrainian border have been ordered back to their home garrisons. How many exactly, Russia did not disclose. Still, it could be a sign of relaxation.
In the midst of the conflict with Ukraine, Russia says it has begun withdrawing troops from the south and west of the country after maneuvers. The first soldiers should return to their permanent bases later today, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. In addition, the loading of military technology had begun.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had previously announced that some exercises were nearing completion. It is not yet clear how many soldiers are involved. Other maneuvers continued, including in neighboring Belarus.
Konashenkov stressed that Russia was continuing a “set of large-scale operations related to the operational training of troops and armed forces.” Nevertheless, the procedure was seen as a possible step towards relaxation.
“Day of Failure of Western War Propaganda”
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on the social network Telegram: “February 15, 2022 will go down in history as the day when Western war propaganda died down.” The West made a fool of itself.
Meanwhile, in the Black Sea, more than 30 Russian warships of different classes held another maneuver using artillery. According to the Ministry of Defence, the Black Sea Fleet exercise involved heavy artillery fire in order to practice destroying an enemy submarine. In Belarus, too, there was fire from heavy artillery during the exercises scheduled until February 20.
According to Ukraine, a Russian invasion has been averted for the time being. “We and our allies managed to prevent Russia from escalating further,” said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. “It’s already mid-February and you can see that diplomacy is still working.”
West increases military presence in Eastern Europe
The massive Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine has been fueling fears of a Russian invasion of the neighboring country for weeks. According to US information, well over 100,000 Russian soldiers were mobilized in the border area. In response to Russian troop movements, the West had increased its military presence in Eastern Europe.
Yesterday, the first additional Bundeswehr soldiers to strengthen NATO’s so-called Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) arrived in the EU country of Lithuania. In total, the Bundeswehr wants to send 350 more soldiers and around 100 military vehicles to Lithuania. So far, around 550 German soldiers are stationed in the former Soviet republic.
Hard performance from Scholz required
The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to take a tough stance during his visit to Moscow today. “Only a crisp and clear ultimatum to Mr. Putin with a deadline to order his armed hordes back no later than February 16 can still save world peace,” Melnyk told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Should the Kremlin boss ignore this very last warning, extremely painful preventive sanctions against Russia would have to be introduced step by step the very next day.”
Melnyk said the economic punitive measures should include a total embargo on imports of oil, gas, coal products and other strategic commodities, a freeze on Russian state assets abroad – including bank accounts – a complete ban on investments in Russia and extensive personal sanctions against the Russian leaders and oligarchs.
US government is calling on citizens to leave Belarus
The US State Department called on all US citizens in Belarus to leave the country “immediately”. “US citizens who are in Belarus should leave the country immediately, whether commercially or privately,” the amended travel advisory said. The situation was unpredictable “due to an increase in unusual and worrying Russian military activity.”
Most recently, the State Department had ordered family members of US government employees to leave Ukraine’s northern neighbor and relocated the US embassy from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to Lviv on the Polish border.