So far, the US government has seen no signs of an end to the Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine. So far, no withdrawal of Russian forces has been observed, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told MSNBC television on Wednesday. “They remain gathered in a very menacing manner along the Ukrainian border.” Referring to Moscow’s announcement that troops would be withdrawn, Blinken said: “What Russia says is one thing. What Russia is doing is another.” It would be good “if they put their money where their mouth is, but we haven’t seen that until now”.
Russia surprisingly announced on Tuesday that after maneuvers, troops had begun to be withdrawn from the Ukrainian border. According to NATO findings, Moscow is continuing its troop deployment in the border area, contrary to the announcement. “So far we haven’t seen any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary: Russia seems to be continuing the military deployment,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday in Brussels at the sidelines of a meeting of the defense ministers of the alliance states. The Russian Defense Ministry, on the other hand, emphasized that further parts of the troops would be withdrawn. (02/16/2022)
Putin is ready to negotiate
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed his willingness to negotiate the Ukraine crisis. He supports negotiations and diplomacy and sees US President Joe Biden’s willingness to talk positively, said the Russian Presidential Office in Moscow. The Kremlin welcomes Biden’s direct appeal to Russian citizens. But it would be even better if he had asked the Ukrainian people to stop shooting at each other.
Russia sees the conflict in Donbass as a purely intra-Ukrainian civil war. The government in Kiev and the West, on the other hand, accuse Russia of directly supporting the separatists, which the government in Moscow denies. However, 700,000 Russian passports have been issued in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
US President Biden had previously said a Russian invasion of Ukraine was “still” a clear possibility. The United States is still ready for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict, stressed Biden. But if Russia decides to use force, his country will act quickly and decisively, Biden said.
According to Russia, the US is deliberately stoking tensions in the Ukraine conflict in order to secure a share of the gas market. With their actions, the United States wanted to ensure that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would not go into operation, news agencies quoted a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying. The US sought to take part of Russia’s European gas market. The United States is critical of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which it believes increases Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. They want to sanction them if Russia invades Ukraine. In addition, the USA wanted to export their liquefied gas, which is obtained through the fracking process rejected in Germany. (02/16/2022)
Stoltenberg: “Russia appears to be continuing the military deployment”
According to NATO findings, Russia is continuing its troop deployment in the border area with Ukraine, contrary to its own announcements. “So far we haven’t seen any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary: Russia seems to be continuing the military build-up,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on the fringes of a meeting of the defense ministers of the alliance states.
Russia had previously announced that the withdrawal of troops had begun after maneuvers. According to the Defense Ministry, several units involved in exercises in Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea also returned to their locations. The state agency Ria Novosti released a video showing a train with tanks and other military vehicles on the Crimean Bridge in the dark. The bridge leads from the peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014 to the Russian mainland. It was not disclosed how many soldiers were involved. The Russian military is also permanently stationed on the peninsula.
In addition, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makej said that the Russian troops stationed in his country would return to their homeland after the joint maneuvers. Not a single Russian soldier or piece of equipment would remain in Belarus, Makej said.
Stoltenberg said seeing movements of troops and main battle tanks did not prove there was a real withdrawal. “They were always moving troops back and forth.” The West is extremely concerned about the Russian troop deployment. It is feared that the transfer of tens of thousands of soldiers could serve to prepare for war. Russia rejects this.
The Russian withdrawal announcements were seen internationally as a possible sign of relaxation, and Stoltenberg was also cautiously optimistic. However, many Western politicians initially reacted cautiously. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed skepticism during a briefing with journalists on Tuesday. Only when you actually see a withdrawal of troops will you believe in a de-escalation. However, Kuleba also said his country’s diplomatic work had “succeeded in holding Russia back from further escalation.” (02/16/2022)
Less natural gas from Russia? The EU sees itself prepared
According to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union is able to cope with a partial interruption in gas imports from Russia. “Our models show that we are on the safe side in the event of a partial disruption or further decrease in gas supplies by Gazprom,” von der Leyen told reporters in Strasbourg. However, a complete stop would still require additional measures. The EU has therefore spoken with important suppliers about increasing gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries. “Those efforts are now clearly paying off.” Japan has agreed to do this. The development of infrastructure in recent years has also meant that Europe is better equipped to distribute gas and electricity between countries.
EU rules state that member states can also respond to a gas supply crisis with government intervention – including restricting industrial plants in order to prioritize gas supplies to households. Russia’s military build-up on the border with Ukraine underscores the need for Europe to reduce dependence on Russian gas, von der Leyen said. This will be supported by the planned conversion to renewable energies. (02/16/2022)
Russia says no attack planned
Russia has dismissed US warnings of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine this Wednesday. “As far as Russia is concerned, I can assure you that there will be no attack this Wednesday. There will also be no escalation in the coming week, or in the week after that, or in the coming month,” said Russia’s EU Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov of the newspaper world. According to the report, he laconically added: “Wars in Europe rarely begin on a Wednesday.”
Chizhov again urged the West to take Russian security concerns seriously. “If our partners finally listen to our legitimate concerns, a detente process will not be long in coming. That would be in the interests of all Europeans from Lisbon to Vladivostok, but also of all other nations in the world.” (02/16/2022)
Kiev reports cyber attacks on the Ministry of Defense and state banks
A hacker attack has again paralyzed several state websites in Ukraine. Several pages of the Ministry of Defense stopped working on Tuesday. The military suspected an overload due to a large number of requests, a so-called DDoS attack. In addition, two large state-owned banks were temporarily affected. Card payments no longer worked. It was only in January that dozens of websites from ministries and institutions were shut down.
It is unclear who is behind the latest attack, Kiev suspects a Russian attack. However, Moscow rejects this. However, it is not surprising that Ukraine sees Russia as the mastermind behind it, according to the Russian Presidential Office. The United States has offered to help Ukraine in the matter. According to the US President’s Office, this applies to investigations as well as a response to the attacks. (02/15/2022)
Scholz: Our “damned duty” to prevent a military escalation
Four hours were scheduled for the talks between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But unlike the talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, which lasted longer than planned last week, the talks between Putin and Scholz ended prematurely. The two then spoke at a joint press conference.
Putin stressed that Moscow is still ready for dialogue with the EU and all Western countries. However, Russia’s interests would have to be adequately taken into account and the overall structure taken into account. Individual questions should not be ignored. “We don’t want a war in Europe,” Putin said. That is the reason why his country is demanding security guarantees from the West. So far, however, there has been no satisfactory answer to his country’s demands.
The Russian President also stressed the importance of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which will strengthen Europe’s energy security. At the same time, Russia is still ready to route gas through Ukraine after 2024. Russian gas supplies to Germany meant that consumers there were paying far less for gas than people in other countries, Putin said. In this respect, the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder should be grateful. Schröder is a friend of Putin and sits on the boards of several Russian energy companies. He recently accused Ukraine of “saber rattling”. Scholz did not want to comment on Schröder in detail. This represents a private opinion that does not correspond to the attitude of the federal government.
Scholz emphasized that “no topic was left out” during the conversation. The positions are “different”, but each one “was able to find a few points in the statements of the other”. Relations between Germany and Russia are “good and varied,” said the Chancellor, and bilateral economic ties still have great potential. At the same time, Scholz criticized the fact that “the spaces for civil society are becoming narrower” in Russia and he expressed the expectation that Deutsche Welle, whose broadcasting license had recently been revoked, could continue to operate in Russia.
The chancellor said he had “explained his assessment of the security situation” to Putin. The announced troop withdrawal is a “good sign,” said Scholz. Shortly before, Moscow had declared that it wanted to start withdrawing the first troops from the south and west of the country. “Let’s continue to discuss these things through dialogue. We mustn’t end up in a dead end, that would be a disaster,” said Scholz. It is “our damned duty to prevent a military escalation”. Now de-escalation is required.
Before his visit, Scholz had refused to be tested for Corona by the Russian side. Instead, he decided to have the PCR test required for entry into the Kremlin carried out by a doctor from the German embassy. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the rejection of the test would not affect the talks in the Kremlin. As a precautionary measure, the distance between Putin and Scholz is greater than usual. Like French President Macron a few days ago, the Chancellor therefore took a seat at a six-metre-long white table. (02/15/2022)