In his statements to the "Beyond the News" program (16/2/2022), Boginsky explained that Moscow is waiting for the next date set by America for a possible invasion, noting that Russia has withdrawn some of its military forces for the maneuvers.

As for the forces stationed on the border with Ukraine, half of them are located in their permanent locations, while the other half represents a measure of vigilance and caution due to the presence of Ukrainian forces near its borders. Therefore, Ukraine should first start withdrawing its forces from the border with Russia.

He pointed out that reducing the Ukrainian military escalation and withdrawing its forces from the line of contact with Russia is a step that will make Moscow take the same step, and there is also a need to reduce NATO's special forces (NATO).

Fully prepared

On the other hand, Jim Townsend, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Affairs, stated that the message from the alliance ministers meeting is that he is ready and ready for any path chosen by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whether it is the diplomatic path or negotiations, but in the event of his invasion of Ukraine there is a willingness to impose sanctions. And take the necessary measures to protect allies in NATO.

He also stated that the US administration does not recognize the inevitability of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also expects to follow the path of diplomacy, explaining that Washington is waiting for the Russian forces to move away from the Ukrainian borders as an indication of the desire to sit at the negotiating table instead of military escalation.

With regard to the military presence, he explained that NATO does not have forces on the Russian borders, but only in the Baltic countries that invited them there, explaining that the alliance does not take the offensive step, as it is a defensive alliance, and therefore the reason for the presence of its forces in the Allied countries is due to its sense of danger from the Russian invasion .

It is noteworthy that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance's defense ministers decided, in their meeting in Brussels, to develop additional options, including the deployment of combat forces in Eastern and Central Europe, to confront what he called the threat to European security, due to Russia's deployment of offensive forces near Ukraine.

Stoltenberg denied there were any signs of Russia reducing its military presence near Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry had confirmed the start of the withdrawal of the tank army units of the Western Military District from the training area in the west of the country towards their barracks, it said.