Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting of the country’s Security Council on Monday. In addition to the head of state, invited speakers will speak during the event, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 21.
“President Putin will convene a meeting of the Russian Security Council. This is a big Security Council,” Peskov said during a press call.
He stressed that this is an irregular meeting, and they promised to reveal its topic later. The last time the Russian leader held a meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council was on February 18.
Over the past day, Putin had two telephone conversations with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. One of them took place at one in the morning. The leaders of Russia and France discussed the aggravated situation on the line of contact in Donbass, emphasizing the need to continue the dialogue between the foreign ministries and political advisers in the Normandy format. In addition, Peskov added that contacts between the Russian Federation and France at the level of foreign ministers are possible in the near future.
Also the day before, Macron had telephone conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the conversation, the Ukrainian leader advocated the urgent convening of a trilateral contact group for a settlement in Donbass.
In addition, the Kremlin allowed the possibility of a meeting between Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden. Both accepted Macron’s offer to hold a bilateral summit.
Earlier, on February 21, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, said that over the past few days, detachments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have significantly intensified and brought the situation in the region to a critical state. He clarified that the battles are being fought near the borders with Russia. On the same day, the DPR Ministry of State Security reported that a group of Ukrainian saboteurs tried to break into the republic in the south. As a result of the breakthrough, the warehouse of rocket and artillery weapons of the People’s Militia Department was blown up. According to the Deputy Head of the People’s Militia Department of the DPR, Eduard Basurin, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are beginning to implement a plan to invade the Donbass.
In the United States and EU countries, they have recently expressed concern about the alleged increase in Russia’s “aggressive actions” against Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying that it does not threaten anyone. As the Russian side emphasized, such accusations are being used as a pretext to place as much NATO military equipment as possible at the Russian borders.
Since 2014, the Kiev authorities have been conducting a military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kiev blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the intra-Ukrainian conflict. The issues of its settlement are being discussed in the Minsk and Normandy formats.
The situation on the line of contact in Donbass escalated on February 17, 2022. The DPR and LPR reported heavy shelling by Ukrainian security forces, including with heavy weapons. At the same time, Kiev announced the shelling of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The republics announced a general mobilization and evacuation of civilians to the territory of Russia.
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