Warnings of escalating escalation
European Union: Russia has massed 150,000 troops in Crimea and on the borders of Ukraine
Russian soldiers participate in a military parade in St. Petersburg yesterday.
A.F.B.
Vladimir Putin.
Archives
picture
Yesterday, European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said that Russia has massed more than 150,000 soldiers along the Ukrainian border and in the Crimea peninsula that annexed it, amid warnings of further escalation, while Ukraine expelled a Russian diplomat.
Borrell told reporters after yesterday's talks that "the mobilization of more than 150,000 soldiers is the largest Russian military deployment on the Ukrainian border ever," and warned that "the risk of further escalation is clear."
Tensions rose due to the Russian troop build-up on the Ukrainian border, as escalating clashes with Moscow-backed separatists fueled fears of a return to large-scale fighting in Ukraine.
Ukraine is pressing the West for more concrete support, while seeking to deter any aggression from Moscow.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuliba pressured the European Union to prepare a "new set of sanctions" against Russia, during his talks with his European counterparts who met yesterday in Brussels, but Borrell said that there are currently no proposed or under study sanctions against Russia.
The strengthening of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border came as clashes erupted between Ukrainian forces and Moscow-backed separatists in the east in recent weeks, causing the collapse of the ceasefire agreement reached last year.
Yesterday, the Ukrainian army announced that one soldier had been killed and another wounded.
Kiev has been fighting pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions since 2014, after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula.
Yesterday, Ukraine announced the expulsion of a Russian diplomat, which it considered a "persona non grata", in response to a similar measure taken by Russia against a Ukrainian consul, against the backdrop of tension between the two countries.
"The ministry sent a note declaring an advisor at the Russian embassy in Kiev an undesirable person, and he has 72 hours to leave the country," said Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikulinko.
Last Saturday, Russia announced the expulsion of the Ukrainian consul in St. Petersburg after his brief arrest by the Russian security service on charges of obtaining classified information, and Kiev protested against the move and denied the accusations against Consul Alexander Susunyuk.
For his part, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called on Russia to provide more information and prepare to talk about the military deployment along the border with Ukraine.
"There is still a chance that Russia will honor its commitments to troop transparency, Moscow must turn from provocation to cooperation," Maas said on the sidelines of the European Union foreign ministers' conference on the recent escalation of the Ukrainian conflict.
Maas did not respond to the demands of imposing new sanctions on Russia, and said that he believes that the role of the European Union is to work everywhere and with both parties to prevent further provocations or escalation. What we see there is to create a spiral of military escalation, which may lead to unintended events. This must be avoided at all costs.
This is what we focus on now ».
On the other hand, the Kremlin said that Russia will continue to reciprocate if more sanctions are imposed on it, after it responded to new US measures last week targeting sovereign debt and blacklisting Russian companies.
"The principle of reciprocity is absolutely consistent," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
These decisions (reciprocal response) will continue if such practices continue. ”
The Kremlin considered that the Czech Republic’s decision, the day before yesterday, to expel 18 Russian diplomats accused of espionage, was a “provocation,” Peskov said, “We do not agree at all with such conclusions about Russian diplomats,” considering that this is a “provocation and an unfriendly act.”
Russia had responded to the Czech’s decision by announcing that 20 employees of the Czech embassy in Moscow were considered "undesirable persons who must leave the country."
Putin participates in the climate summit
Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate in a video call, the day after tomorrow, at the international climate summit proposed by his US counterpart, Joe Biden, according to what the Kremlin announced yesterday.
"Vladimir Putin will present Russia's approach in the context of establishing broad international cooperation to overcome the negative consequences of climate change," the Kremlin said in a statement. And 40 world leaders called for this hypothetical summit scheduled for April 22 and 23, which will mark Washington's return to combating climate change after its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the administration of former President Donald Trump. At the end of last March, Biden invited Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to participate in this summit, but the latter has not yet confirmed his participation. The positive response from the Russians comes amid escalating tension between the Kremlin and the West on many international issues, most notably the Ukraine and imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. Climate issues appear to be one of the last possible areas of cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
According to many scientists, Siberia and the Arctic are among the regions most affected by climate change.
In recent years, they have recorded record temperatures and huge fires.
And at the beginning of last March, Moscow and Washington announced that they had resumed cooperation on climate with the arrival of the new US administration.
Moscow - AFP
Ukraine expels a Russian diplomat in response to a similar measure taken by Moscow.
The Kremlin asserts that Russia will continue to reciprocate if more sanctions are imposed on it.
Follow our latest local and sports news, and the latest political and economic developments via Google news