DThe US has dismissed Russia’s account of an incident involving an American submarine in the Pacific. A spokesman for the US Navy for the Indo-Pacific region said on Saturday (local time) when asked by dpa: “The Russian claims that we are operating in their territorial waters are not true.” He will not know the exact location of US -Boats express, “but we fly, sail and operate safely in international waters,” emphasized the spokesman.
The Russian Defense Ministry had previously announced that a US submarine had been expelled from its own territorial waters in the Pacific. The Virginia-class boat violated the Russian state border near the Kuril Islands on Saturday. Exercises by the Russian Navy were planned there at the time. Because the US crew initially ignored warnings, the Russian side used “appropriate means” to force the boat to turn back, it said. Details were not initially given. The American military attaché was later summoned to the Defense Ministry in Moscow to hand him a note of protest.
The incident happened against the background of high tensions between the US and Russia over the Ukraine crisis. The US government reckons that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time. The federal government has also asked German citizens to leave Ukraine.
“If you are currently in Ukraine, check whether your presence is mandatory. If not, leave at short notice, ”said the Federal Foreign Office on Saturday. The USA, Great Britain, Denmark, Latvia and Estonia, among others, had previously asked their citizens to leave the country.
The Federal Foreign Office warned: “Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have increased further in recent days given the massive presence and movements of Russian military units near the Ukrainian borders. A military conflict cannot be ruled out.”
The German embassy in Kiev is to remain open for the time being, but some of the employees are to leave the country. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said on Saturday during a visit to Egypt. The staff will be reduced. This also applies to German institutions such as KfW, the Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and German teachers. According to her, the family members of the embassy staff should also leave the country.
The German consulate general in Dnipro is to be relocated to Lviv (Lemberg). In future, this will enable employees to work further away from the so-called line of contact between the Ukrainian government troops and the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
A visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to Ukraine is planned for Monday. On Tuesday, Scholz wants to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time as Chancellor in Moscow.
The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, hopes that Scholz’s upcoming visit to Kiev will give bilateral relations a new start – and investment guarantees. Ukraine wants to be an equal partner and not a supplicant, he said in the “Interview of the Week” according to Deutschlandfunk. They want to speak at eye level without the Germans repeatedly showing consideration for Russia out of fear. It is time for German politics to take off the Russian glasses when it comes to Ukraine.
So far, one has applied to Ukraine travel warning due to the corona pandemic and a partial travel warning for the Donetsk and Luhansk administrative districts controlled by the separatists and the areas along the contact line.
No information about impending invasion
Meanwhile, Kiev has expressed surprise: “If you or anyone else has additional information about a 100 percent invasion on February 16, please provide us with this information,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told journalists on Saturday. Kiev is aware that there are risks.
Still, there would be too many reports in the public space of a major war by Russia against Ukraine. Kiev is prepared for everything. But: “The best friend for the enemy is panic in our country,” Selenskyj addressed Western journalists in English. All this information would only create panic and would not help Ukraine.
Conversation between Biden and Putin
The US government had warned of a possible invasion before the end of next week and had relocated around 3,000 more soldiers to the NATO partner state of Poland. The US military will withdraw about 160 members of the Florida National Guard from Ukraine and relocate them to another location in Europe as a precautionary measure, the US Department of Defense said on Saturday. The forces had been in Ukraine since November to advise the armed forces there.
US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call. The White House said Saturday after the call that Biden had said an invasion would “cause great human suffering and tarnish Russia’s reputation.” The result would be a resolute response from the United States and its allies, with dire consequences for Moscow. Biden has again made it clear that the US is still ready for diplomatic talks, but “also prepared for other scenarios”.
According to France, French President Emmanuel Macron also exchanged views with Putin about ways to implement the Minsk Agreement. In the 90-minute conversation, Macron said that serious negotiations were incompatible with an escalation of tensions in Ukraine, the presidential office in Paris said.
In a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of wanting to provoke a military conflict in Ukraine. Lavrov “stressed that the propaganda campaign launched by the United States and its allies regarding ‘Russian aggression’ against Ukraine is pursuing provocative goals,” the Foreign Ministry said in Moscow on Saturday.
Lavrov accused the United States of encouraging the government in Kiev to “sabotage the Minsk agreements” and a “military solution to the Donbass problem”. The West has so far ignored “central” demands made by Russia on the USA and NATO. According to his ministry, Blinken emphasized in the phone call with Lavrov that the United States was ready to resolve the conflict over Ukraine through diplomatic channels. However, this presupposes “de-escalatory” steps on the part of Russia.
Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border but says it is not planning an attack. However, Moscow demands guarantees that Ukraine and other former Soviet republics will not join NATO and that the alliance will also withdraw troops from its member states in the east. The West, in turn, rejects this.