Russia and Belarus will begin 10-day war games as tensions over the Ukraine
border. NATO said the joint drills marked Russia's largest deployment to
Belarus since the Cold War.
The White House called the drills an "escalation" in tensions in Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly denied allegations of planning to invade Ukraine
despite gathering more than 100,000 troops on the neighboring country's
borders.
Several Western countries including the United States have warned that a
Russian attack could occur at any time. Read also: Russia launches hybrid
warship and stealth submarine In 2014 Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula,
south of Ukraine.
Since then there has been a long-running conflict in eastern Ukraine, where
Russia-backed separatists control large swathes of territory and 14,000
people have been killed.
About 30,000 Russian troops are expected to engage in war games with
Belarus.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is a strong ally of Russian
President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin supported Lukashenko when large
protests erupted in Belarus in 2020.
Most Western countries imposed sanctions and refused to recognize the
election results that Lukashenko won. A Kremlin spokesman described the war
games as serious.
He said, “Russia and Belarus are facing an unprecedented threat.”
Russia's Ambassador to the European Union (EU) Vladimir Chizhov told the BBC
that his country still believes diplomacy can help reduce the escalation of
the crisis in Ukraine. He said Russian troops in Belarus would return to
their permanent bases after the war games.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki explained, "When we look at the
preparations for this military exercise, again, we see this as an act of
escalation and not an act of de-escalation."
French President Emmanuel Macron said talks on resolving the conflict would
be revived on Thursday (10/2/2022).
Talks will take place between Russia and Ukraine alongside France and
Germany in what is known as the Normandy quartet.
Macron said Wednesday that Putin had assured him that Russian troops would
not escalate the crisis.
However, Russia says it does not provide such guarantees.
After two days of intense diplomacy led by Macron, there are some
suggestions that a renewed focus on the Minsk agreement to end the conflict
in eastern Ukraine could be used as a basis for easing the current crisis.
Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany backed the 2014-15 Minsk accord.
Diplomats said the agreement could offer a route for de-escalation, with
France's Ambassador to the US Philippe Etienne tweeting that the agreement
should be used to "build a viable political solution".
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels and Warsaw on
Thursday (10/2/2022) to support NATO allies.
Johnson's trip is part of a wave of diplomatic activity, with British
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace also due to
meet their Russian counterparts in Moscow on Thursday.
Ahead of the first visit to Russia by a British foreign secretary in four
years, Truss said he was determined to defend freedom and democracy in
Ukraine and intended to press Moscow to pursue a diplomatic solution.
