White House: “War drums” in Ukraine – Blinken rushed to Kiev

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The drums of war are ringing on the border with Ukraine, according to the White House. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is rushing to Kiev today to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and staff at the US embassy to draw up an emergency plan in the event of an escalation. During a conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov yesterday, the US Secretary of State called on Moscow to defuse the situation by withdrawing its military units from the Ukrainian border.

German pressure on Russia
The possibility of canceling the operation of the Russian gas pipeline to Germany Nord Stream 2 was left open yesterday by Chancellor Olaf Solz in case of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“It is clear that (Russia) will be called upon to pay a high price and everything will be called into question if there is a military intervention in Ukraine,” Solz said when asked about the future of the pipeline after his meeting with the secretary-general yesterday. of NATO Jens Stoltenberg in Berlin. The two men called on Moscow to reduce the number of its troops near the Ukrainian border.

German Foreign Minister Analena Berbok, who met yesterday with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, followed the same path. “If the energy is used as a weapon, it could have consequences for the pipeline,” Burbock told a joint Lavrov news conference after their one-on-one talks. However, he did not fail to point out “how important relations with the Russian Federation are for the new federal government” of Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Soltz. On her first visit to the Russian capital, the head of German diplomacy, who comes from the Green Party, laid a wreath at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, while in her statements she underlined “the historical depth” in the relations between the two great European powers.

“If the energy is used as a weapon, it could have consequences for the pipeline,” German Foreign Minister Analena Berbok told a joint news conference with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov after talks in Moscow. (EPA / RUSSIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY)
For his part, Sergei Lavrov responded to Burbok’s warnings by saying in Berlin that “efforts to politicize the pipeline are counterproductive” and stressed that the dialogue that began last week with the United States and its allies would only continue if concrete answers were given. Russia’s claims of “credible, legally binding security guarantees” over NATO non-expansion. He also called on Germany and France to press Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to implement the Minsk peace agreements his country has signed, and said Moscow would welcome US involvement in the Ukraine peace talks. Sergei Lavrov later had a telephone conversation with his American counterpart Anthony Blinken, with whom he discussed the possibility of new US-Russian consultations, following those of last week.

Moscow welcomes US involvement in Ukraine talks, Lavrov says

Exercises in Belarus
Russian troops began landing in Belarus to attend scheduled high schools in the two countries, increasing the concentration of Russian troops on its western border near Ukraine.

His assessment that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is not realistic was expressed yesterday by Tayyip Erdogan. Speaking to reporters accompanying him to Albania, the Turkish president, who has good relations with both Moscow and Kiev, said he wanted to discuss the Ukrainian issue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Why are the families of Russian diplomats leaving?
Russia announced yesterday that its embassy in Kiev is functioning normally, in an indirect response to the New York Times article, according to which the families of employees of the Russian embassy in Kiev and in Russia began to leave Ukraine at the beginning of the year. consulates in various Ukrainian cities. The post questioned whether the withdrawal was a propaganda ploy, a sign of preparation for war or a bluff. “It could be all three,” the NYT said, adding that the Russian announcement was not exactly a rebuttal, as both could well have happened: relatives of Russian diplomats have left Ukraine and the embassy is operating normally. of. According to the report, almost 50 people have left the embassy in Kiev and the consulate in Lviv in western Ukraine. Diplomats at two other consulates were also ordered to prepare to leave. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russian missions to Ukraine “have become targets of local extremists” but are operating normally.

If Russia chooses escalation, it has other options besides the classic hostilities, for which it is preparing by accumulating troops around Ukraine.

Digital warfare
Last week, Ukrainian ministries came under cyber attack, while Microsoft discovered that digital saboteurs much more powerful than those activated last week have been installed and inactive in Ukrainian information systems.

“Russia’s response will be asymmetric, rapid and harsh,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in April, referring to the threat to Russia’s “fundamental security interests.” In November, the Russian president hinted that if the West insisted on keeping weapons open near the Russian border, it could send supersonic missile submarines within shooting distance of Washington.

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