Putin and Biden will hold a telephone conversation this Saturday. The United States sees it as likely that the Russian invasion will take place before the end of the Winter Olympics on the 20th
The United States seemed to be the only actor in the Ukraine crisis that was sure that Russia, sooner rather than later, would end up invading the neighboring country. However, he has managed to convince all his allies that the start of the armed conflict is imminent. Some Pentagon strategists even limit the delay of the Kremlin’s military operation to a climatological issue and affirm that the fact that the region’s soil is not completely frozen means that the tanks that Moscow has deployed on the border could have stability problems. in their advance towards Kiev.
Certain that war is imminent, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said this Friday in Melbourne, where he was on an official visit, that Russian forces plan to set foot on Ukrainian territory during the current Winter Olympics, which take place in Beijing until the 20th. For this reason, he called for Americans residing in the European country to leave immediately. “We simply continue to see worrying signs of escalation, including more soldiers arriving at the border,” he said after meeting with his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia.
The North American evacuation call was joined by its main ally on the other side of the Atlantic. The United Kingdom also detects signs that hostilities could break out at any moment and has designed an evacuation plan for its compatriots residing in Ukraine in the last few hours. “I fear for the safety of Europe in the current circumstances,” Johnson said during a virtual meeting with other world leaders.
Yellow light in the EU
The European Union has not yet turned on the red light, but it has pressed the yellow button and gives permission to non-essential staff of the community delegation in Kiev to leave the country. Each of the Twenty-seven will have autonomy to decide on the departure of their civilian compatriots. The Netherlands has already opted for it. Outside the Old Continent, Israel and South Korea have followed the same path.
The aggressive and undiplomatic tone recently used by Russian ministerial officials after meeting in Moscow with their respective Western counterparts has contributed to the taking of these ‘precautions’. They all returned to their respective countries with the feeling that the crisis in Eastern Europe, far from starting the requested de-escalation, was experiencing a sharp increase in tension.
IN ITS CONTEXT:
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400
new Russian soldiers have joined the deployed troops in the last few hours. -
3,000
US military will land in Poland to reassure allies. -
Oil prices skyrocket.
The risk of an invasion has pushed up oil prices. The market closed with a barrel of North Sea Brent for April delivery rising 4.50% to $95.52, its highest price since September 2014. In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate reached $94.37.
The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zajárova, even described as “rude” and “disrespectful” the collective response formulated by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, and the head of EU Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, to a battery of letters that Lavrov had sent to the foreign ministers of 37 countries with individual questions about security in Eastern Europe, a gesture that was interpreted in NATO and the EU as an attempt to sow division.
Diplomacy has not staged any conquest. No steps forward have been recorded. It was made clear during the expert-level meeting of the so-called Normandy Quartet in Berlin on Thursday. The Russian deputy foreign minister and representative in the talks, Dmitri Kozak, left the meeting stressing that “zero” progress had been made. The sticking point lies in the status of the pro-Russian authorities in the rebel regions. Russia insists that Ukraine establish a dialogue with the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The truth is that the Kremlin, which already maintained more than 100,000 uniformed personnel near Ukraine, has moved more troops to the region in recent hours, about four hundred men, according to satellite images obtained by a private United States company. “Things could get crazy fast,” President Joe Biden told NBC News television before holding telephone conversations to discuss the crisis with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Poland and Romania, as well as as with the heads of NATO and the EU.
Critical point
Biden also met with his national security advisers in the White House Situation Room on Thursday night. Senior officials told him the crisis could be coming to a head with Moscow’s toughening rhetoric, sending six warships to the Black Sea and more military equipment to Belarus.
In addition, the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, held unsuccessful telephone conversations, according to the Interfax news agency. They talked about international security and Moscow again denied that it plans to invade Ukraine, although it could take unspecified “technical-military” measures. It is this cryptic language reminiscent of the Cold War and the Soviet Union that arouses suspicion.
Putin and Biden will speak by phone this Saturday
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a phone call with his US counterpart Joe Biden on Saturday amid a new escalation in tensions with Ukraine.
This has been confirmed by the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, to the Russian agency Interfax, to whom he has also added that the call will be made at the request of the United States.
“In fact, the US side has asked for a talk with President Putin, and tomorrow night, Moscow time, the two presidents are scheduled to talk,” said the official.
On the other hand, Peskov has also confirmed that the Russian president will hold a conversation with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. This will be, therefore, the second conversation between the two throughout this week.