Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov said in an interview with the Canadian publication The Globe and Mail, published on December 5, that due to the threat of an invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops UK, Canada and USA could support Kievby placing their military closer to the line of contact in the country.
“We have already heard similar statements from a number of European capitals, including from the British military, in my opinion, there was a statement that they were ready to send their units there. And not only training, but also combat ones,” Peskov said. “Of course , this is what worries us extremely, this is what we do not like. And this is what makes us take some measures to protect our own interests, to insure against what is happening. “
Canadian Defense Chief of Staff General Wayne Eyre said on December 6 that the country does not plan to send additional forces to Ukraine against the backdrop of an exacerbated border crisis with Russia, since an expansion of NATO’s presence in Ukraine could provoke, not deter Putin.
That against the background of the threat of invasion by Russian troops Great Britain is ready to send up to 600 military personnel to Ukraine, including 400 paratroopers, wrote the British Mirror on November 13. The source of the publication claimed that the military were already ready for dispatch, and their equipment was packed. This denied information British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons.
Since the end of October, Western media have been writing that Russia resumed building up its troops near the border with Ukraine and this causes concern among high-ranking officials in the United States and the European Union.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine at first said that any changes on the border with the Russian Federation Did not happen and Ukrainian intelligence does not record the build-up of Russian troops.
On November 18, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, said that Russia was conducting a large-scale special operation against Ukraine to destabilize the situation both inside the country and abroad. The accumulation of Russian troops near the border of Ukraine “will continue and peaks around the end of January“he stressed.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, near the Ukrainian-Russian border and in the occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian Federation concentrated already more than 94 thousand… Russian military. Reznikov does not exclude that this figure soon may grow up to 175 thousand.
In the Kremlin called the messages about the preparation of the invasion “stuffing”, said that “Russia is not going to attack anyone and is not hatching any aggressive plans,” and accused Kiev of preparing to aggression “against” LPR “and” DPR “. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine denied the disinformation of the Russian Federation about the alleged preparation for a military attack in Donbass.
The United States and NATO have repeatedly called on Russia to de-escalate the stress at the borders and transparency of intentions… In early December, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned Russia that the escalation of aggression in Ukraine US to impose new economic sanctions, “from which it has so far refrained”… In particular, the new package of sanctions being developed in the United States provides for disconnection of Russia from the international payment system SWIFT, CNN reported on December 6, citing its own sources.
Russia is expected financial and political implicationsif it decides to act aggressively against Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the end of November.
Putin noted on December 1 that he wants to get from NATO written guaranteesthat the Alliance will not expand eastward. Stoltenberg reiterated that Russia does not have the right to veto Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance.
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