SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) – Amid mounting tensions with fears of Russia’s occupation of Ukraine, the Kremlin turned its verbal artillery against the United Kingdom this Friday (11), as governments of Western powers accuse it. It has aligned itself with the United States in this crisis.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told his British envoy Ben Wallace on Friday that relations between Moscow and London were at an all-time low, according to Russian news agencies. “Unfortunately, the level of our cooperation is close to zero and has to cross the zero meridian to the negative, which is not desirable,” he said.
Moscow has already publicly ridiculed British Foreign Secretary Lis Tras, who has caused geographical confusion by claiming that the sea, 1,000 kilometers from the Baltic, supports “Baltic allies across the Black Sea.”
At the same time, the United States questioned the steps taken by France to defuse the crisis. Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, and announced that he had asked the Russians for a promise not to escalate the conflict – and on Tuesday, the Frenchman met with Volodymyr Zhelensky in Kiev. With the Ukrainian side.
With more than 100,000 troops, weapons and other equipment stationed at various locations along the neighboring border, U.S. officials have publicly expressed doubts about the outcome of the trip. “Of course, if there is diplomatic progress, we would appreciate it, but we believe in it when we see it with our own eyes on the border,” White House spokeswoman Jen Zhaki said Tuesday.
The day after Macron’s visit, the Pentagon said Russia would continue to strengthen its forces on the border, in defiance of Moscow’s promises to France.
On Thursday, Moscow mobilized its tanks to conduct live-fire drills across Belarus, prompting a NATO alert. Sent six warships across the Phosphorus for planned naval maneuvers in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
In an interview with the US channel MSNBC on Thursday (10), the French President said that the military maneuvers carried out by the Russian and Russian forces in Belarus were, in our view, a “de-escalation, an expansion”.
Macron met with US President Joe Biden, British President Boris Johnson and German President Olaf Scholes on the phone on Friday afternoon. The talks will include Polish President Andrzej Duda, Italian Prime Minister Mario Tragi and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. At the table will be NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel.
Washington reiterated on Friday that an invasion could take place at any time before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on February 20, and that Russia was concentrating more troops near Ukraine.
Satellite images released by a private American company showed new Russian military units at various locations near the Ukrainian border.
Biden has repeatedly urged Americans in Ukraine to leave the country, and said he would not send troops to rescue civilians in the event of a Russian attack, in the wake of the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan. “Things can go crazy quickly,” the president told NBC News.
The Ukrainian government once again criticized the move, saying Kiev was cautious and said “there is no evidence of a radical change in the situation.” Ukraine has repeatedly stated that it wants a diplomatic route, and last weekend called the predictions of an immediate invasion “apocalyptic.”
This is not enough to pacify other countries. As the warning spread, Japan and the Netherlands on Friday urged their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. The Dutch diplomatic mission is to be withdrawn from Kiev and transferred to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, far from the Russian border. Israel has said it will withdraw its diplomatic mission from the capital due to “bad conditions.”
Russia denies any intent to invade Ukraine, but says that if security demands are not met, it could take “military action” such as a guarantee that the neighbor will not join NATO – which is unacceptable to such countries.
