The president of United States, Joe Bidenand its Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putinwill hold a telephone conversation on Ukraine this Saturday in the face of the escalation of tension in Eastern Europe that has led several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, to ask their citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible. It will be the first direct conversation between the two leaders since December 30.when Biden and Putin made their differences on Ukraine clear in another phone call.
Biden will take this call from his residence in Camp Davidin the state of Maryland where he went on Friday afternoon, and will take place after the State Department has ordered “the departure of the employees of the Kiev embassy who do not attend to emergencies” at the diplomatic headquarters, due to a potential major Russian military action” at the border, the embassy reported on Twitter.
Today, the @StateDeptordered non-emergency US employees at the Embassy to depart due to continued reports of a Russian military build-up on the border with Ukraine, indicating potential for significant military action. https://t.co/6IgLvE4PJS
— US Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) February 12, 2022
“The American citizens in Ukraine have to be aware of the fact that the government you won’t be able to evacuate them“in the event of a Russian offensive, which can”start anytime and without warning”, according to the same source on its website. On Friday, the United States urged its citizens to leave Ukraine “as quickly as possible”, a call that was later made by other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada or Japan.
White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, warned of the “clear possibility” that Russia would attack Ukraine during the Winter Olympic Games, which are held until February 20 in Beijing after a virtual meeting between Biden and his main Western counterparts. “An invasion could happen anytime if Vladimir Putin gives the order,” Sullivan warned, saying it could even “start during the Olympic GamesBeijing, which ends on February 20. According to Sullivan, such an offensive is a “very, very real possibility,” but the american intelligence he does not know if the Russian president “has made a final decision” or not. “No one knows if the decision to act has been made,” a NATO diplomat confirmed to AFP.
US ready to respond to Russia
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, affirmed this Saturday that he hopes that Russia “does not choose the path of renewed aggression and that he choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue.” “But if he does not, we are prepared,” Blinken added at a press conference in Fiji, where he is for an official visit. The head of US diplomacy evaded clarify if the American Embassy in Kyiv would be evacuated due to the risk of an armed conflict breaking out.
This same Friday, on the instructions of Biden, the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, gave the order to deploy 3,000 additional soldiers to Polandso there are already 6,000 US military on the eastern flank of the NATO in Europe. Several rounds of talks held in recent days have failed to defuse the crisis that has been triggered in the last month by the West’s claim that Russia has mobilized more than 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine, which has led the Russian and American governments to engage in a propaganda battle.
Russia accuses the US of disinformation
The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused Washington of carrying out a “disinformation campaign on a large scale” about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. “In late 2021 and early 2022, the global information space faced a media campaign unprecedented in its scale and sophistication, the aim of which is to convince the world community that the Russian Federation is preparing a invasion of the territory of Ukraine“, He highlighted in a statement, according to the US network CNN.
The Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonovhas maintained that same line and has pointed out that the statements of the United States National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, respond to the “desire of the Administration to maximize the degree of propaganda campaignagainst Russia, according to the Russian news agency TASS. “Comments by politicians that Russia will ‘attack’ Ukraine during or after the Olympics are not supported by any evidence. Washington simply continues to ‘waste’ based on certain intelligence, the details of which are not given,” Antonov emphasized, as he collected a message on the Facebook account of the Russian Embassy.
“Optimization” of the Russian embassy in Ukraine
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The Russian Embassy in Ukraine has denied this Saturday previous information that pointed to the beginning of the evacuation tasks of its diplomatic staff in the country due to the increase in international tension in recent hours, although it has pointed to a “optimization” of your staff before possible Ukrainian provocationswhose authorities have categorically rejected.
This morning, a fountain of RIA Novosti announced that Russian diplomats and consular officials in Ukraine had begun to depart for Russia in a decision that “is evidenced by the difficulties that have arisen in making an appointment with the consulates and the Embassy.” By contrast, the Embassy in Kyiv He assured the Tass agency that “the Russian diplomatic missions in Ukraine are still operational and that they are now involved in a staff remodeling. “We continue our work as usual,” explained a person in charge of the diplomatic mission under anonymity, before explaining that right now an “optimization of staffing” is being carried out.