(Moscow) Russia on Monday considered possible a diplomatic settlement of the Russian-Western crisis around Ukraine and announced the end of certain military maneuvers, when the fear of an invasion reached its peak.
Posted at 7:53 a.m.
Updated at 9:47 a.m.
“I have to say there’s still a chance,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, responding to a question from President Vladimir Putin, according to television footage.
“Our possibilities are far from being exhausted”, continued the minister, even proposing to “prolong and broaden” the dialogue, remarks much less offensive than those which have emanated from Moscow in recent weeks.
“Good,” replied Mr. Putin laconically.
In the process, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the end of certain military maneuvers, while land and sea exercises, on the Russian-Ukrainian borders and in Belarus, feed fears of a military escalation.
“Exercises are taking place, one part is over, another part is coming to an end. Others are still being made given (their) size,” he told Mr Putin.
Russia, which already annexed Crimea in 2014 and supports pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, has consistently denied any aggressive intentions.
On the contrary, she says she is threatened by the expansion of NATO means in Eastern Europe and calls for a lasting de-escalation of “security guarantees”, in particular the assurance that Ukraine will never join NATO and a withdrawal from Eastern Europe of the Atlantic Alliance’s military infrastructure.
“Constructive” proposals –
The West deemed these demands unacceptable, but proposed increased dialogue on other issues, such as arms control.
Mr. Lavrov told Mr. Putin that some of these US proposals were “constructive”.
The statements by Russian ministers to Putin come as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in Kiev, ahead of a trip to Moscow the next day. This trip comes after the one exactly a week ago by Emmanuel Macron.
“We expect immediate signs of de-escalation from Moscow,” Mr. Scholz said in a tweet before his arrival in Ukraine, again threatening Russia with “serious consequences” in the event of “military aggression”.
In Kiev, he urged Moscow to seize “offers for dialogue”, while pledging to continue German economic aid.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, stressed that his country’s membership of NATO would “guarantee” its security and that the controversial Russian-German gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, which bypasses Ukrainian territory, was a “geopolitical weapon “.
Ukraine has officially asked Moscow to explain the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers on its borders. And this, in accordance with the commitments that Russia has made within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a meeting of which is scheduled for Tuesday.
The United States, meanwhile, has been hammering for days that the Russian army could invade Ukraine “at any time” and many countries have called on their nationals to leave its soil as quickly as possible.
Moving the embassies from Kiev is “a big mistake”, Mr. Zelensky warned in this regard on Monday.
Digging trenches
In southeastern Ukraine, near the front line with pro-Russian separatists, the population is mobilizing in anticipation of an attack.
“We are digging trenches in which the Ukrainian soldiers can easily jump and defend themselves,” explains Mikhaïlo Anopa, 15, to AFP.
In Kiev, no signs of panic were visible. But Yury Fedinsky, a 46-year-old musician, chose to leave eastern Ukraine for the United States with his pregnant wife and four children.
“We take them to learn English in an American school […]an alternative to what Putin would want for Ukraine,” he told AFP at Kiev airport.
Put up ”
Tensions are at their height, with more than 100,000 Russian soldiers present near Ukraine’s eastern border and others engaged in maneuvers in Belarus to the north and the Black Sea to the south.
Ukraine nevertheless welcomed Monday “positive” negotiations with Minsk.
In a telephone conversation on Sunday evening, US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart agreed to pursue “diplomacy” and “deterrence” against Moscow.