No sign of de-escalation as Russia continues to build up troops around Ukraine

Reuters | Moscow 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The United States and NATO said Russia was still building up troops around Ukraine yesterday despite Moscow’s insistence it was pulling back, questioning President Vladimir Putin’s stated desire to negotiate a solution to the crisis.

In Ukraine, where people raised flags and played the national anthem to show unity against fears of an invasion, the government said a cyberattack that hit the defence ministry was the worst of its kind the country had seen.

It pointed a finger at Russia, which denied involvement. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces – part of a huge buildup that has been accompanied by demands to the West for sweeping security guarantees – were pulling back after exercises in southern and western military districts near Ukraine.

It published a video that it said showed tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and self-propelled artillery units leaving the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014. But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said key Russian units were moving towards the border, not away.

“There’s what Russia says. And then there’s what Russia does. And we haven’t seen any pullback of its forces,” Blinken said in an interview on MSNBC.

“We continue to see critical units moving toward the border, not away from the border.” A senior Western intelligence official said the risk of Russian aggression against Ukraine would remain high for the rest of February and Russia could still attack Ukraine “with essentially no, or little-to-no, warning”.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said moving troops and tanks back and forth did not amount to proof of a pullout.

“What we see is that they have increased the number of troops and more troops are on their way. So, so far, no de-escalation,” he said.