Members
of
Ukraine's
Territorial
Defense
Forces,
volunteer
military
units of
the
Armed
Forces,
train in
a city
park in
Kyiv,
Ukraine,
Saturday,
Jan. 22,
2022.
Dozens
of
civilians
have
been
joining
Ukraine's
army
reserves
in
recent
weeks
amid
fears
about
Russian
invasion.
(AP
Photo/Efrem
Lukatsky) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
An
instructor
trains
members
of
Ukraine's
Territorial
Defense
Forces,
volunteer
military
units of
the
Armed
Forces,
in a
city
park in
Kyiv,
Ukraine,
Saturday,
Jan. 22,
2022.
Dozens
of
civilians
have
been
joining
Ukraine's
army
reserves
in
recent
weeks
amid
fears
about
Russian
invasion.
(AP
Photo/Efrem
Lukatsky) |
|
Russia
conducts
new
military
exercises
as
Biden,
Europeans
intensify
diplomacy
on
Ukraine
Robyn
Dixon,
Rachel
Pannett,
David L.
Stern
washingtonpost.com
MOSCOW —
Kremlin
spokesman
Dmitry
Peskov
accused
the
United
States
on
Tuesday
of
“building
up
tension”
over
Ukraine,
as
Russia
launched
new
military
exercises
in the
west of
the
country
that
include
short-range
ballistic
missile
units.
Peskov
said
Russia
was
closely
watching
U.S.
moves,
including
the
Pentagon’s
decision
to put
8,500
troops
on high
alert
Monday
for
possible
deployment
to
Europe.
“We are
observing
these
actions
of the
United
States
with
profound
concern,”
Peskov
said,
speaking
to
journalists
Tuesday.
Russia’s
Western
Military
District
announced
the
exercises
Tuesday
“to
comprehensively
check
forces’
combat
skills.”
It
released
video of
Iskander
short-range
ballistic
missile
crews
entering
field
positions,
the
latest
in a
rapid-fire
series
of
drills
that
Russia
has run
in
recent
weeks,
increasing
pressure
on NATO
and
Ukraine.
Within
hours,
Russia’s
military
announced
another
exercise
in the
south of
the
country,
with
aviation
units
from the
Southern
Military
District
and
Black
Sea
Fleet
training
in joint
actions
during
missile
strikes.
More
than 60
Russian
fighter
jets and
bombers
were to
take
part in
the
exercise,
involving
units
stationed
near
Ukraine
and in
Crimea,
further
heightening
tensions
over
possible
Russian
military
action
against
Ukraine.
The
Russian
Defense
Ministry
also
announced
the
arrival
of
Pacific
Fleet
forces
in
Belarus
on
Tuesday,
ahead of
a major
military
exercise
with
that
country
next
month,
fueling
Western
alarm
over a
possible
Russian
invasion
of
Ukraine.
Russian
officials
have
denied
that
they
have
plans to
attack.
Altogether,
Russia
has
massed
military
equipment
and more
than
100,000
troops
near
Ukraine
and
continues
to move
troops
into
place.
The
moves
come
amid a
flurry
of
diplomatic
efforts
to find
a way
out of
the
crisis,
but the
United
States
and NATO
have
firmly
ruled
out
Moscow’s
core
demand
against
further
NATO
expansion,
raising
fears
that
Russia
could
use the
failure
of
diplomacy
as a
pretext
for the
“military-technical”
response
that
President
Vladimir
Putin
has
threatened.
Russian
officials
blame
“Western
aggression”
for the
crisis,
repeatedly
warning
that
Moscow
will
accept
nothing
less
than an
end to
NATO’s
long-standing
open-door
policy
for new
member
countries.
Peskov
said
that
Russia
was
awaiting
a
written
response
“this
week”
from
Washington
and NATO
to its
security
demands,
including
that
Ukraine
and
other
countries
be
barred
from
NATO
membership,
and that
the
alliance
remove
troops
and
equipment
from
Eastern
Europe.
Negotiations
with
Washington
and NATO
over
Russia’s
demands
“were
completed,”
Peskov
said,
“and
before
there is
any
understanding
of how
we will
continue,
we need
to get
the
text.”
He added
that
Putin
would
speak to
French
President
Emmanuel
Macron
before
the end
of the
week,
after
French
officials
said
Paris
would
present
a
de-escalation
plan to
the
Russian
leader
and
Ukrainian
President
Volodymyr
Zelensky.
Paris is
set to
host
talks
between
political
advisers
Wednesday
in an
effort
to
reinvigorate
the
stalled
Normandy
Format
peace
process,
involving
France,
Germany,
Russia
and
Ukraine,
designed
to
settle
the
conflict
in the
two
Russian-backed
separatist
regions
of
eastern
Ukraine
that has
been
running
since
2014.
Meanwhile,
President
Biden
sought
to show
a united
front
with
European
allies
Monday
after
cracks
emerged
in
recent
weeks
over
which
sanctions
against
Russia
should
be on
the
table in
case of
an
attack,
and over
the
supply
of
defensive
weapons
to
Ukraine.
Germany
and
Sweden
have
ruled
out
supplying
Kyiv
with
weapons.
Biden
insisted
there
was
“total
unanimity”
among
European
leaders
on
Monday’s
video
call.
The
leaders
—
including
Macron,
British
Prime
Minister
Boris
Johnson
and top
NATO and
European
Union
officials
— spoke
of their
“shared
desire
for a
diplomatic
resolution
to the
current
tensions,”
according
to a
White
House
readout
of the
call.
They
also
discussed
preparations
to
impose
“massive
consequences
and
severe
economic
costs”
on
Russia,
as well
as moves
to
reinforce
security
on
NATO’s
eastern
flank.
The
Western
alliance
said
Monday
it was
moving
more
military
equipment
into
Eastern
Europe,
sending
additional
ships
and
fighter
jets,
just as
the
Biden
administration
put the
U.S.
troops
on
heightened
alert
for
potential
deployment.
Ukrainian
Foreign
Minister
Dmytro
Kuleba
criticized
Germany
for
blocking
arms
supplies
to
Ukraine,
calling
it a
“moment
of
truth”
in
relations
between
Berlin
and
Kyiv.
“Every
crisis
brings
relations
to a
moment
of
truth,
and now
we have
a moment
of truth
with
Germany
on a
number
of
fundamentally
important
issues
for the
security
and
future
of
Ukraine
as an
independent
state
and for
Euro-Atlantic
security
in
general,”
he said,
speaking
on
Ukrainian
television.
Germany
refused
permission
for a
delivery
from
Estonia
to Kyiv
of
German-made
weapons,
which
require
Berlin’s
approval
for
re-export,
the Wall
Street
Journal
reported
last
week.
Germany’s
Defense
Ministry
on
Monday
said
that
request
was
still
being
considered
after
the U.S.
State
Department
last
week
cleared
Lithuania,
Latvia
and
Estonia
to send
American-made
missiles
and
other
weapons
to
Ukraine.
“These
are
issues
where,
we
believe,
there
can be
no talk
at all
of
Germany
blocking
anything,”
Kuleba
said.
NATO
Secretary
General
Jens
Stoltenberg
said on
Jan. 24
that the
alliance
would
continue
to take
necessary
measures
“to
protect
and
defend
all
Allies.”
(Reuters)
Macron
said
during
the
virtual
meeting
that
de-escalating
the
situation
would
require
“strong,
credible
warnings
to
Russia”
and
“constant
coordination
among
European
partners
and
allies.”
Paris
has a
tradition
of
pushing
for
European
diplomacy
to be
more
independent
of
Washington.
But
Macron’s
expressed
desire
to
strengthen
E.U.
involvement
in the
crisis
comes as
some
Baltic
states
push for
greater
U.S.
involvement
and
support.
“The
biggest
deterrence
to
Russia
is an
American
flag,”
Estonian
Prime
Minister
Kaja
Kallas
told the
Financial
Times of
London
newspaper
in an
interview
published
Monday.
Tensions
in the
Baltics
are
intensifying
in
tandem
with the
Ukraine
crisis,
as
Moscow
has
issued a
demand
for the
removal
of all
NATO
military
infrastructure
installed
after
1997 in
Eastern
European
countries
that are
now
members
of the
alliance.
In
Belarus,
which
borders
Ukraine,
a group
of
hackers
calling
itself
“Cyber
Partisans”
said
Monday
they had
infiltrated
the
railway
network
of the
Kremlin-aligned
state to
“disrupt”
the
movement
of
Russian
troops.
The
group,
announcing
its
intrusion
in posts
on
Twitter
and
Telegram,
said it
had
encrypted
the
railroad’s
“servers,
databases
and
workstations
to
disrupt
its
operations”
because
it
facilitates
the
passage
of
“occupying
troops.”
Minsk
said
Russian
troops
continued
to
arrive
in the
country
ahead of
the
training
exercise
next
month.
Video
surfaced
on
social
media
Monday
showing
Russian
military
convoys
and
trains
with
military
equipment
moving
across
southern
Russia
and
Belarus.
Cyber
Partisans
said it
would
return
the
network
to
“normal
mode” if
50
political
prisoners
in need
of
medical
care
were
released
and
Russian
troops
were
barred
from
Belarus.
As of
Monday
evening,
parts of
the
Belarusian
Railway
website
were
down,
showing
an error
message
that
“the
site is
temporarily
unavailable,
come
back
later.”
Meanwhile,
Canadian
officials
said
Monday
that
hackers
had
launched
an
attack
on the
country’s
Foreign
Ministry
last
week,
around
the time
Ottawa’s
cyberdefense
agency
was
warning
of
Russian-backed
threats.
Canada
is a
NATO
member,
and
Prime
Minister
Justin
Trudeau
has been
vocal in
his
opposition
to
Russia’s
massing
of
forces
on the
Ukrainian
border.
The
Treasury
Board
Secretariat,
which is
responsible
for
Canadian
government
operations,
didn’t
immediately
respond
to a
request
for
comment
on
whether
Russian
actors
were
responsible.
“Critical
services
for
Canadians
through
Global
Affairs
Canada
are
currently
functioning.
Some
access
to
Internet
and
internet-based
services
are not
currently
available
as part
of the
mitigation
measures
and work
is
underway
to
restore
them,”
the
Treasury
Board
said in
a
statement.
Amid the
escalating
tensions,
U.S.
Senate
Majority
Leader
Charles
E.
Schumer
(D-N.Y.)
requested
that the
Biden
administration
brief
members
of the
upper
chamber
on the
Russia-Ukraine
situation,
a person
familiar
with the
matter
said.
House
Speaker
Nancy
Pelosi
(D-Calif.)
has
requested
a
similar
bipartisan
briefing.
Even as
the
administration
seeks a
diplomatic
resolution
to the
Ukraine
crisis,
the
United
States
and some
Western
allies
have
begun to
take the
kind of
dramatic
steps
typically
reserved
for the
eve of
anticipated
armed
action.
Britain
pulled
some
diplomats
and
their
families
out of
Ukraine
on
Monday,
a day
after
the
United
States
ordered
families
of
diplomats
to leave
Kyiv and
authorized
the
departures
of
nonessential
embassy
staff.
In an
interview
with the
ITV
network,
British
leader
Johnson
said
intelligence
indicates
Russia
is
planning
a
“lightning
raid” on
Kyiv, as
he
warned
the
Kremlin
that an
incursion
would be
“a
disastrous
step”
that
could
lead to
a
lengthy
conflict
with
casualties
on both
sides.
Pannett
reported
from
Sydney.
Bryan
Pietsch
in
Seoul,
Amanda
Coletta
in
Toronto
and
Ashley
Parker,
Missy
Ryan and
Karoun
Demirjian
in
Washington
contributed
to this
report.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|