The Kremlin also accused the United States and its NATO allies of escalating the situation with their announcement to send more troops to Eastern Europe. Peskov accused the West of ‘hysteria’. “This is not because of what we Russia are doing, it is all because of what the US and NATO are doing,” he said of the increased tension.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday the alliance was preparing troops amid rising tensions with Russia. Fighter planes and warships are also being directed to the area to guarantee the security of NATO countries in Eastern Europe.
According to Stoltenberg, several countries, including the Netherlands, Spain, France and Denmark, have pledged to send reinforcements to countries such as Bulgaria and the Baltic States. The US is also considering The New York Times warships, planes and several thousand military personnel in response to Russian threats. In the long run, this could even amount to 50,000 soldiers.
In particular, Russia’s claims that Ukrainians are concentrating troops on the front lines of areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists will sound alarming to the United States and NATO. It is exactly the scenario they warned about: that Moscow would use a so-called attack on the rebel republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as a justification for invading Ukraine.
Russia has deployed a massive military force along its border with Ukraine. The country is now under threat from three sides, including from neighboring Belarus, where Russian troops have moved in last week under the guise of a joint military exercise with the Belarusian army.
Boris Johnson
British Prime Minister Johnson warned that all indications are that Russia is gearing up for a ‘lightning attack to take out Kiev’. He says there is still a chance to avoid a conflict, but he warned Russia that invading Ukraine would prove ‘disastrous’. “Invasion is a painful, violent and bloody affair,” he said.
At a meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers warned Moscow that it would have to count on heavy sanctions in the event of an invasion. But there is still division among EU countries about how far they should go. Germany in particular is wary of harsh punitive measures, such as excluding Russia from the international payment system Swift and blocking the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, this would shoot the EU in the foot, especially now that there is a shortage of gas.
This was criticized by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. According to him, the EU and the US should unite. ‘We are convinced that a real war is very likely. The sanctions must be unbearable,” he said. After the EU meeting, Minister Hoekstra of Foreign Affairs said that he had seen ‘a lot of unanimity’.
Meanwhile, the US and Britain have started to recall relatives of their diplomatic personnel from Kiev over fears of an impending invasion from Russia. EU foreign affairs coordinator Josep Borrell said on Monday that the EU will not follow the example of the Americans and the British for the time being. Minister Hoekstra spoke of a dilemma. An early departure is seen by Ukraine as a form of defeatism. ‘But you do want to make sure that your own people are safe. We monitor the situation from hour to hour’, says Hoekstra.