(Washington) The United States again accused Russia on Wednesday of continuing “escalation” on the border with Ukraine, but nevertheless hopes to continue diplomatic dialogue with Moscow.
“Russia continues to escalate and has not reversed the strengthening of its military presence” at the border, a spokesman for American diplomacy told AFP. He reaffirmed that Washington and its allies were monitoring the situation “closely”.
New troop movements
This observation comes at a time when Germany, for its part, has reported new “troop movements” on the Russian side.
“There is a line of communication and diplomatic contact that is open and we expect this to continue, we hope it will continue,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, however. his routine press briefing.
The West accuse Moscow of having massed tens of thousands of soldiers on its border with Ukraine to prepare for a possible invasion. The Kremlin considers on the contrary that it is the attitude of Washington and NATO which is threatening, because of their political and military support in Kiev.
“Any new aggression against Ukraine would generate massive consequences and a significant cost,” warned the spokesperson for the State Department, echoing the unprecedented sanctions warning already issued by the Americans and their allies.
“We strongly urge Russia to engage in de-escalation by withdrawing its troops from the approaches to the border with Ukraine,” he added. “Our goal is de-escalation through diplomacy. The United States is ready to enter the diplomatic channel in January through several channels. ”
These threats did not prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from adopting a particularly vehement tone on Tuesday.
“In the event that the very clearly aggressive line of our Western colleagues is maintained, we will take appropriate military and technical measures of retaliation, react firmly to unfriendly actions. […] We have every right to do so, ”he declared during an intervention before the executives of the Russian army and the Ministry of Defense.
“President Putin is addressing his own audience, which is not the United States of America,” Jen Psaki commented on Wednesday.
“NATO is a defensive alliance. We have no aggressive intention regarding Russia, ”added the spokeswoman for the US executive. “The aggressive rhetoric comes from one side only and I think everyone sees it clearly,” she said.