As Russia began joint military exercises with Belarus on the Ukrainian border on Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Ukraine crisis was entering its “most dangerous moment”. for Europe, while calling on the Kremlin to “think of another way forward” to ease tensions.
According to the UK’s Prime Minister, the next few days indeed represent the “biggest security crisis that Europe has had to face in decades” and calls on all parties involved “to get it right”. , he said during a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The Alliance finds itself at the heart of the current crisis, with Moscow demanding that it cease its expansion towards the east and renounce the possible integration of Ukraine within it. For Russia, a written commitment from the West on this point, among others, is conditional on a de-escalation in the Ukrainian conflict.
London’s reading of the risks was supported by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “The size of the Russian forces is increasing”, he said, taking up the idea of ”a dangerous moment for European security”. “The warning time for a possible attack is decreasing,” he added.
On Thursday, six Russian ships used for the transport and landing of troops, vehicles and equipment arrived in the port of Sevastopol, Crimea, after a long journey from the Baltic Sea, to take part in military exercises in the Black Sea, off the Ukrainian coast. This type of ships was used in 2008 during the Russian invasion of Georgia.
The warning time for a possible attack decreases
The military deployment in the Black Sea has been roundly denounced by the Ukrainian authorities. These maneuvers represent “destructive activities undermining security”, and Russia violates international law as well as “Ukraine’s sovereignty in its territorial maritime zone”, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
“Russia continues to actively militarize the Crimean peninsula and to use the temporarily occupied territory as a training ground,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said. If there is no common reaction [des Occidentaux] to these pressures, the Kremlin […] could use such tactics all over the world. Our partners reacted vigorously by providing weapons. Currently, we expect a strong response from our partners. »
Aid and sanctions
On Thursday, around 350 additional British soldiers landed in Poland, where already 300 soldiers in the service of Her Majesty have been dispatched in recent months, near the Belarus border. London also adopted a law during the day allowing it to toughen its sanctions regime against Russia in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.
“The UK can now sanction not only those directly linked to the destabilization of Ukraine, but also entities affiliated with the government of Russia and companies of strategic and economic importance to the Russian government,” explains the UK Foreign Office in a statement.
For its part, Denmark has announced that it has opened the door to the presence of American soldiers and military “equipment” on its territory, as part of a new bilateral agreement aimed at facilitating the movement of American troops in Europe.
To prevent the possibility of “unfortunate incidents” during the Russian military maneuvers at the door of Ukraine, the American Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, called on Thursday his Belarusian counterpart, General Viktor Gulevitch, the Pentagon said. The content of the exchange was kept secret, Minsk stating laconically that “during the telephone conversation, the two parties discussed security issues”.
From Moscow, the head of British diplomacy, Liz Truss, said she had received from her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, the assurance that Moscow was not going to invade Ukraine, but she demanded in passing that the words be followed by gestures. “We need to see the troops and equipment stationed on the Ukrainian border moved elsewhere,” the diplomat said after a tense meeting described by the Russians as a “dialogue of the deaf”, reported The Guardian.
In Brussels, Boris Johnson said he believed that Vladimir Putin had not yet decided to order the invasion of Ukraine, even though his intelligence services told him of “dark” prospects. “In the Kremlin and throughout Russia, they must be asking themselves whether it really makes sense to shed the blood of Russian soldiers in a war that, in my opinion, would be catastrophic,” he said.
As for Vladimir Putin, in a statement on Thursday, he described a world becoming “increasingly turbulent and tense”. At the same time, he called for “sustained and additional efforts to ensure strategic stability and to counter emerging threats and challenges” and called for “comprehensive and legally enforceable security guarantees for [son] country with the United States and its NATO allies.
With Agence France-Presse