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US SECRETARY OF State Antony Blinken said today that Washington had seen “evidence” Russia could be planning an invasion on Ukraine, threatening Moscow with painful economic sanctions if it attacks.
Blinken accused Moscow of massing “tens of thousands of additional combat forces” near Ukraine’s border as he geared up for talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm over the crisis.
“We’re deeply concerned by evidence that Russia has made plans for significant aggressive moves against Ukraine, plans include efforts to destabilise Ukraine from within as well as large scale military operations,” he said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Latvia’s capital Riga.
“Now, we don’t know whether President (Vladimir) Putin has made the decision to invade. We do know that he’s putting in place the capacity to do so on short order, should he so decide,” he said.
Blinken insisted “diplomacy is the only responsible way to resolve this potential crisis” but warned there would be “far-reaching and long-lasting consequences” for Moscow if it pushed ahead with any aggression.
“We made it clear to the Kremlin that we will respond resolutely, including with a range of high-impact economic measures that we’ve refrained from using in the past,” Blinken said.
Kiev’s Western allies have been sounding the alarm since last month over a fresh Russian troop buildup around Ukraine’s borders and a possible winter invasion.
Russia, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backs separatists fighting Kiev, has strongly denied it is plotting an attack and blames NATO for fuelling tensions.
Ukraine seeks Russia talks
Moscow hit back today by accusing Ukraine of massing tens of thousands of troops in the country’s east, as worries grow over an escalation.
The allegations came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for direct talks with Moscow over the festering conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the east of his country.
“We must tell the truth that we will not be able to end the war without direct talks with Russia,” Zelensky said during an annual address to lawmakers in Kiev.
More than 13,000 people have been killed in a war that began in 2014 between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists, who have carved out two “People’s Republics” in eastern Ukraine.
In Moscow, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to pour cold water on the idea, reiterating that the war was a domestic problem in Ukraine.
“We know of attempts to present Russia as a party to this conflict. This is not the case,” Peskov told reporters.
“The war in Donbass can only be stopped through negotiations between Ukrainians and Ukrainians.”
A senior US official today urged a “complete ceasefire” on the Donbass conflict over Christmas.
“With the Christmas season coming, this is a time for a resumption of complete ceasefire, for prisoner exchange and for re-opening of crossing points so that families can visit,” Victoria Nuland, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs told a security forum in Kiev via a video link.
“We have been encouraging both Moscow and Kiev to work together on a package of those kinds of measures,” Nuland added.
‘Red lines’
Putin has warned the West and Kiev against crossing the Kremlin’s “red lines” over staging military exercises and building up weaponry in Ukraine.
Blinken insisted in Riga that NATO allies were “making sure that Ukraine has the means to defend itself”.
And he said that the alliance would “look at what it needs to do in the event of further Russian aggression, to shore up its own defences” as NATO eyes bolstering forces along its eastern flank.
Blinken said Russia was using the same “playbook” it employed when it took control of Crimea, including by intensifying “disinformation” to portray Kiev as the “aggressor”.
The foreign minister of Ukraine — which has seen its bid for membership in NATO stall — urged the US-led alliance for a “deterrence package” to stop Russia as he attended the meeting in Riga.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also pledged the bloc “will be standing firmly and decisively with Ukraine in front of any attempt to undermine its territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
“Everything has to be done in order to make clear that any aggression against Ukraine will have a strong response.”
‘Concrete agreements’
In response, Putin said today he wanted “concrete agreements” from NATO that it would not expand eastwards, as the West accuses the Kremlin of planning a Ukraine invasion.
“In our dialogue with the US and its allies, we will insist on developing specific agreements that would exclude any further NATO moves east and the deployment of weapons systems that threaten us close to Russian territory, Putin said.
“We propose to start substantive negotiations on this,” Putin said as he received credentials from newly appointed ambassadors at a Kremlin ceremony.
He said Moscow seeks “legal guarantees”, adding that the West had “not fulfilled their spoken obligations” and “ignored” Russian concerns.
Putin said Russia was responding to what he called a growing threat on its Western border.
He claimed that NATO military infrastructure is “close” to Russian borders, saying this was “more than serious” to Moscow.
“In this situation, we are taking adequate military-technical measures,” the Russian leader said.
“But, I repeat, we are not threatening anyone as we are accused of doing.”
Speaking at a NATO meeting in Latvia’s capital Riga later today, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow had “no right” to decide Kiev’s relations with the alliance.
“Russia cannot stop Ukraine from getting closer to NATO and has no right to have any say in the relevant discussions,” Kuleba said.
“Any Russian proposals to discuss with NATO or the US any so-called guarantees that the alliance would not expand to the east are illegitimate,” he added.
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US getting involved in another situation that has absolutely nothing to do with them. Seems there the only country that can invade others without consequences.
@Roy Dowling: So Russia should be allowed to invade Ukraine without any repercussions? Interesting.
@Roy Dowling: You don’t think security matters that impact the NATO block borders have anything to do with the United States? Not sure you know much about anything.
@Seán Ó Briain: What repercussions did the US suffer when invading countries in the middle East? The us invades who they like and the world keeps quite?
@Seán Ó Briain: how many countries have the US invaded ?Seems like the usual suspects like UK, Nato and the EU have done a good job over the last few years to provoke there pal Vlad. Anyways I’m sure the grub is plenty full and the drinks flow long into the night at the various get-togethers.
@Will: Putin blameless I’m sure. Have a read of a book called Red Notice by Bill Browder and educate yourself as to what really goes on in the corridors of power in Russia.
@Roy Dowling: Isn’t Ukraine quite near to Nato countries? And isn’t the US something to do with Nato?
@Bill Spill: Russia itself borders NATO countries and it’s ally Belarus also borders NATO countries. Didn’t see the US having issues there. US is like a bully getting upset because another bully has started picking on weaker countries. They want to be the only bully.
@Roy Dowling: so you can’t answer the question
@Roy Dowling: So when you say they are getting involved in a situation that had absolutely nothing to do with them, what do you mean?
@Roy Dowling: you wouldn’t be speaking English now if it wasn’t for the US.
@Splat: Given that our mother tongue is Irish, would it really matter if we were speaking a language other than English now?
@Roy Dowling: Haaaaa. Putin doesn’t give a Sh11te about sanctions….
@Roy Dowling: The president begged the US to help. Stop your lazy anti-Americanism.
@Roy Dowling: ffs! One was a response to domestic terrorism that killed thousands on their soil. The other I’ll give you was to settle a score for Bush’s daddy.
@David F. Dwyer: how innocent you put it
This is all the world needs right now.
@Ciarán FitzGerald: what the world needs now, is love, sweet love
@Ciarán FitzGerald: we need. The Donald back now,!
@Martin Scaldbag: scaldbag
Don’t think Putin really worries a lot about sanctions. Already a lot of sanctions in place, has not stopped him taking parts of Georgia and the Crimea. Slap wrist threat.
@Denis K: yeah was thinking that and if he did invade he could get his mate in Belarus to come in from the North hit on 2 sides,all doe that could drag Poland in then
U S Has invaded and caused more wars than any nation …And who exploded 2 Atomic bombs
@John Mc Auley: Just curious as to where you got that information from? I’m not a supporter of or apologist for the U.S. by the way it’s just that it doesn’t seem to accord with historical fact. I’d imagine some far older European nations may be way ahead of them in that regard. Lots of countries have exploded two atomic bombs by the way. The U.S. though is obviously the only nation to use them in a war situation and the context of why they did needs to be considered.
@John Mc Auley: only 2?
Smells of Hitler invading Czechoslovakia . The west huffed and puffed then as well and we all know what happened
Join NATO Ukraine, get it over with
With Sleepy Joe at the helm Russia, China, N Korea and Iran can do whatever they want. The time has never been better to strike than with a pensioner struggling to read a tele-promt sentence at the wheel.
Mr. Putin can read between the lines. The Western alliance knows his little games and applies their own. If Russia wants a war they will get a war. The truth is this: The NATO build up is massive too. Putin is behind it. Russia wants Ukraine. Ukraine doesn’t want him! And all this nonsense with Belarus and Poland. Who do you think is behind it? Didn’t Hitler do the same? The thing is NATO can do tremendous damage to Russia as 465 nukes are aimed at every military target and at every Russian city including Moscow as the first site to highlight the power of the west! The Hitler says are gone. No tanks! No ships. Nukes and it will happen. This man Putin is playing with a deadly flame. Out he goes with his hidden 200 billion in hidden bank accounts stolen from the Russian people. He is a very presumptuous man and he will be humiliated in front of his own people.
@James Arnold: That all sounds great. But, there is an ego there that super edes everything you said. Putin will push as many buttons as he can until no more can be pushed. Then he’ll back pedal a little until the west think they have a victory. He annexed the Crimean without so much as a strongly worded email. He’ll try and reunite the old USSR states and increase the sovereign and fiscal strength of the union by whatever means possible. He is on a long mission and wont stop at a few pointing fingers from weak western leaders.
I have been studying international warfare for three years. The power of nuclear weapons are about 1,000 times greater than those bombs dropped on Japan. The old days of trenches and infantry are over. No soldiers needed at all. No planes needed either. It’s nuclear warfare. And Russia will be decimated first. All it takes is a command. The whole country is destroyed
@James Arnold: ye need to chill out on the comments guy
@James Arnold: All it takes is a command and the whole world is destroyed.
Sanctions shmanctions, sanctions are useless.
I have been studying international warfare for three years. The power of nuclear weapons are about 1,000 times greater than those bombs dropped on Japan. The old days of trenches and infantry are over. No soldiers needed at all. No planes needed either. It’s nuclear warfare. And Russia will be decimated first. All it takes is a command. The whole country destroyed all because of a little tiny man who murdered others and cared nothing for his own i.e. The Kursk for example and this little man needs to use a toilet like the rest of us. He may be loved by his own but he has successfully deceived his own. A disaster.
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