Russia has condemned a u.s decision to send extra troops to europe to
support its allies amid continuing fears of a russian invasion of ukraine.
Moscow said it was a destructive step that heightened tension and reduced
the scope for a political solution.
The Pentagon said two thousand us troops would be sent from North Carolina
to poland and germany and a further one thousand already in germany would go
to romania.
Russia has some 100,000 troops near ukraine, it denies planning to invade.
The tensions come eight years after russia annexed ukraine's southern crimea
peninsula and backed a bloody rebellion in the eastern donbass region.
Moscow accuses the ukrainian government of failing to implement the minsk
agreement an international deal to restore peace to the east, where
russian-backed rebels control swathes of territory and at least 14,000
people have been killed since 2014.
The US and the western military alliance nato questioned the continued
buildup of russian forces near Ukraine. On thursday NTO Secretary General
Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had seen a significant movement of
roughly 30,000 russian troops to Belarus in the last few days the biggest
deployment to the country, since the end of the cold war.
Russia says the troops are there for joint military drills. Ukraine
meanwhile has sought to dampen talks of conflict.
Defense minister Oleksii Reznikov said on thursday the number of ceasefire
violations in eastern ukraine had dropped and that there have been no combat
losses for three weeks.
Responding to US President Joe Biden's decision to deploy extra troops to
europe this week, Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said it
was a destructive and an unjustified step.
Speaking on wednesday Grushko added that it would delight the ukrainian
authorities who would continue sabotaging the minsk agreement with impunity.
The Pentagon earlier said the us troops being deployed would not fight in
ukraine but would ensure the defense of washington's allies. Their
deployment is in addition to the 8500 troops the pentagon put on alert last
month to be ready to deploy to europe if needed.
It's important that we send a strong signal to putin and frankly to the
world that nato matters to the united states and it matters to our allies,
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on wednesday.
But on the question of alleged invasion plans by putin he said, we still
don't believe he's made a decision to further invade ukraine.
He also said a u.s proposal leaked to a european news outlet was genuine. He
appeared to be referring to a story in spain's El-Pace newspaper about a u.s
offer of talks with russia in exchange for reducing tensions over ukraine.
Significant forces of the russian guard have been directed towards the
ukrainian border. On russian highways large units of the russian guard were
seen which according to the authors of the video, were moving towards the
ukrainian border.
The purpose of the transfer of large formations of the Russian guard in this
direction remains unknown however judging by the video footage presented we
are talking about special units, which also include armored vehicles.
On the presented video materials published a few hours ago you can see the
transfer of units of the russian guard towards the ukrainian border. We are
talking about a large number of armored personnel carriers, armored vehicles
and military trucks.
According to a number of assumptions we can talk about the intentions of the
russian guard to conduct exercises however against the backdrop of high
tension on the border between russia and ukraine. It has been suggested that
the units of the russian guard may be used to strengthen the border areas.
There is also some information that the equipment of the russian guard is
also being transferred by trains but there are no other details with the
exception of several types of vehicles identified on railway platforms.
Meanwhile as Putin blames west russia's military buildup continues.
Satellite images captured the establishment of tents and shelters for troops
near ukraine's borders.
It may signal an increased overall readiness level of russia's military.
Even as president vladimir putin of russia claims the united states is
trying to goad russia into war with ukraine.
New satellite imagery shows no sign of a slowdown in moscow's military
buildup. One image taken on february 1st shows an entirely new housing area
next to an existing deployment of military vehicles in novosirinoi in
russian-occupied crimea.
The personnel camp was established within the last 10 days, according to a
new york times analysis of additional satellite imagery.
Breaking a month-long silence Mr Putin said wednesday that while he hoped
diplomacy would continue, the west had ignored russia's demands.
The Russian leader has repeatedly cast his country not as the aggressor but
as a victim of NATO expansionism but the new imagery, along with information
from independent military analysts confirms the enormous scale of moscow's
military buildup.
Russia has massed about 130,000 troops on the ukrainian border by western
estimates. Its troops, tanks and heavy artillery have encircled the border
from the north, east and south, according to information obtained by
ukrainian and western officials, as well as independent military analysts
and satellite imagery.
