Russia says pulling back some forces from Ukraine border

 

MOSCOW, FEB 15: Russia said on Tuesday it was pulling back some of its forces near the Ukrainian border to their bases, in what would be the first major step towards de-escalation in weeks of crisis with the West.

The move came amid an intense diplomatic effort to avert a feared Russian invasion of its pro-Western neighbour and after Moscow amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders.

Following the announcement, Ukraine said that its joint diplomatic efforts with Western allies have managed to avert a feared Russian invasion.

“We and our allies have managed to prevent Russia from any further escalation. It is already the middle of February, and you see that diplomacy is continuing to work,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters.

The crisis — the worst between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War — reached a peak this week with US officials warning that a full-scale invasion, including an assault on the capital Kyiv, was possible within days.

In the morning on Tuesday, the Russian defence ministry’s spokesman said that some forces deployed near Ukraine had completed their exercises and were packing up to leave.

“Units of the Southern and Western military districts, having completed their tasks, have already begun loading onto rail and road transport and today they will begin moving to their military garrisons,” the ministry’s chief spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, told Russian news agencies.

It was not immediately clear how many units were involved and what impact the withdrawals would have on the overall number of troops surrounding Ukraine, but it was the first announcement of a Russian drawdown in weeks.

Talks with Germany

If Western officials confirm that Moscow is taking steps to reduce its forces, it would ease fears of a major war in Europe that have been rising for weeks.

The first reaction could come from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was due in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Support from Germany, a major economic partner for Moscow and importer of Russian gas, is crucial for the package of crippling sanctions that Western leaders say would be imposed in response to an invasion.

Ahead of Tuesday’s talks, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that “the situation is particularly dangerous and can escalate at any moment.”

“The responsibility for de-escalation is clearly with Russia, and it is for Moscow to withdraw its troops,” she said in a statement, adding that “we must use all opportunities for dialogue in order to reach a peaceful solution”.

Comments from Putin’s foreign and defence ministers on Monday had already offered some hope of a de-escalation.

During a carefully choreographed meeting Monday with Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “there is always a chance” of reaching an agreement with the West over Ukraine.

He told Putin that exchanges with leaders in European capitals and Washington showed enough of an opening for progress on Russia’s goals to be worth pursuing.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu meanwhile told Putin that some Russian military drills launched in December were “ending” and more would end “in the near future”.

The Russian leader and his top aides have consistently argued that the current crisis is the result of the United States and western Europe ignoring Moscow’s legitimate security concerns.

Russia, which has repeatedly denied any plan to invade Ukraine, already controls the peninsula of Crimea that it seized from Ukraine in 2014 and supports separatist forces controlling parts of eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin insists Nato must give assurances Ukraine will never be admitted as a member and roll back its presence in eastern European countries.

‘Crucial window’

Washington said Russia had strengthened its forces on the Ukrainian border over the weekend, but US officials insisted that “diplomacy continues to be viable”.

US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed in a call late Monday that “a crucial window for diplomacy” remained.

“The leaders emphasised that any further incursion into Ukraine would result in a protracted crisis for Russia, with far-reaching damage for both Russia and the world,” a Downing Street spokesman said.

Amid some claims from US officials that an invasion was being prepared for Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile declared it a “Unity Day”, urging Ukrainians to take the streets in peaceful demonstrations of solidarity.

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Courtesy Dawn News

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G7 nations to impose ‘massive’ economic sanctions on Russia in case of invasion of Ukraine

 

ROME, FEB 14: Finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations said on Monday they are prepared to impose “massive” economic sanctions on Russia should it attack Ukraine.

They called the Russian build-up of forces on Ukraine’s borders “a cause for grave concern” and that should a military invasion proceed as the West fears there will be a rapid impact on Russia.

“We reiterate that in particular any further military aggression by Russia against Ukraine will be met with a swift, coordinated and forceful response,” a joint statement said.

“We are prepared to collectively impose economic and financial sanctions which will have massive and immediate consequences on the Russian economy,” it continued.

Top US officials said in recent days that intelligence suggests Russia could be planning to invade Ukraine “at any time.” Washington now puts the number of Russian troops amassed near its neighbour at 130,000.

Despite this build-up, Russia has repeatedly denied having any intent to invade Ukraine and accuses the West of “scaremongering.”

Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, Britain and Canada form the G7. The rotating presidency is currently held by Germany.

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Courtesy Anews

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Ukraine considers dropping ambition to join NATO to avoid war – envoy

 

Kyiv, FEB 14: Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK has said the country could consider dropping its ambition to join NATO to avoid war with Russia. Vadym Prystaiko told BBC Radio 5 that the country would, due to threats and blackmail, consider “serious concessions” including removing the goal of joining the Nato alliance from the Ukrainian constitution.

It comes as armed forces minister James Heappey warned against extending Nato’s “collective security” to a non-member and Boris Johnson is due to join last-ditch diplomatic efforts in Europe.

Mr Heappey said the deterrence of Russia needed to go beyond economic sanctions, but that Nato’s “defensive” operations were “very different” from offering its collective security to a non-member “especially with the very real possibility that the alliance fractures as a result”.

Writing in The Times, Mr Heappey said: “Nato has always been a defensive alliance that sovereign nations have chosen to join for their collective security. NATO does not attack others.

“Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO has deployed beyond its borders to Afghanistan in response to an attack on the United States; played a role in counterinsurgency and counter-piracy missions in sub-Saharan Africa, Iraq and the Indian Ocean; and played an important part in stabilising the Balkans after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

“I would argue, however, that these are all very different from offering the collective security of the alliance to a non-member especially with the very real possibility that the alliance fractures as a result. It would also be exactly the pretext Putin needs to claim that he’s responding to western aggression on his borders.”

As Ukraine is not a Nato member and allies in the defence alliance have said they would not join fighting in Ukraine but have bolstered forces in neighbouring nations and are threatening widespread sanctions.

Downing Street conceded Moscow could be planning to invade “at any moment” but the Prime Minister will hold talks with world leaders before a trip to Europe during this week’s “window of opportunity” for de-escalation.

The UK and other Nato allies have urged their citizens to flee Ukraine and some airlines have cancelled flights to Kyiv amid growing concerns that the estimated 130,000 Russian troops amassed on the border could be poised to attack.

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Courtesy Anews

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Ukraine sees no point closing airspace amid Russia tension: official

 

Kyiv, FEB 13: Ukraine sees no point closing its airspace amid the tensions with Moscow, a senior Ukrainian official said on Sunday, after the United States warned that Russia could invade the eastern European nation at any time.

Dutch carrier KLM said it would stop flying to Ukraine and Germany’s Lufthansa said it was considering suspending flights.

Ukraine’s SkyUp said on Sunday it had to divert one flight after the owner of the leased aircraft barred it from entering Ukrainian airspace.

“The most important point is that Ukraine itself sees no point in closing the sky. This is nonsense. And, in my opinion, it somewhat resembles a kind of partial blockade,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian president’s chief of staff.

“If particular air carriers decide to reconfigure the flight schedule, this certainly has nothing to do with the decisions or policies of our state,” he told Reuters.

The United States, its Western allies and other nations have been scaling back or evacuating embassy staff and have advised their citizens not to travel to Ukraine amid the standoff.

Washington says the Russian military, which has more than 100,000 troops massed near Ukraine, could invade at any moment.

Moscow denies having any such plan and has described such warnings as “hysteria”.

At Kyiv’s Borispil Airport, the largest in Ukraine, there was little sign on Saturday of an exodus. Oksana Yurchenko was travelling back to Australia with her child.

“We were visiting our family here in Ukraine. We were planning to stay a bit longer but this situation is a bit scary,” the chef and a beauty salon owner said.

Australia has advised its citizens to leave Ukraine and said on Sunday it was evacuating its embassy.

Ricky, a Scotsman who lives in Ukraine, said he saw no sign of public anxiety on the streets. “I do not see anyone in fear in Ukraine, everyone is just getting on with their life,” he said at the airport as he waited for a flight to go on holiday.

Ukraine’s SkyUp said in a statement that one of its planes, carrying 175 passengers from Portugal, had to land in Moldova on Saturday instead of continuing to Ukraine after the Ireland-based owner of the leased aircraft prevented the aircraft from entering Ukrainian airspace.

It did not give further details.

KLM, part of Air France, said it would stop flying to Ukraine immediately, reported on Saturday, while Lufthansa said it was considering suspending air traffic to Ukraine but had yet to decide.

Two third of the 298 passengers killed when Malaysia Airlines MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014, as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, were Dutch citizens.

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Courtesy Dawn News

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Biden’s decision to grant frozen Afghan funds to 9/11 victims sparks outrage

 

WASHINGTON, FEB 12: US President Joe Biden‘s decision to split $7 billion of frozen Afghan funds between victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and humanitarian aid has sparked outrage among Afghans.

On Friday, Biden signed an executive order paving the way for Afghan funds held in the US to be split between humanitarian aid to the country and for the compensation of American victims of the September 11 attacks.

Afghan factions including former politicians, academics and the Taliban expressed outrage at Biden’s decision.

“The theft and seizure of the Afghan nation’s frozen money by the United States represent the lowest level of the human and moral decay of a country and a nation,” senior Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem Wardak said on Twitter.

ALSO READ: Joe Biden releases frozen Afghan assets

On social media, many Afghans said Biden was stealing money from deserving Afghans that had nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism in the US.

No Afghan was among the terrorists involved in the attack on New York’s World Trade Center in 2001. Osama Bin Ladin, the leader of al-Qaeda, was later killed in Pakistan.

Experts claim the allocation of frozen assets as laid out in Biden’s decree would mark an irreparable blow to Afghanistan‘s economy.

“It’s essentially giving back Afghans their own money as humanitarian assistance while throttling the economy,” Afghan policy analyst and researcher Mohsin Amin tweeted.

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Courtesy ANews

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