Russia provides response to U.S. deescalation plan, poises 30,000 troops to Belarus-Ukraine border

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Moscow delivered a written response to U.S. proposals for deescalation as Joe Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations claims Russia is poised to move 30,000 more troops to the Belarus-Ukraine border.

‘We’ve seen evidence that Russia intends to expand that presence to more than 30,000 troops near the Belarus-Ukraine border, less than two hours north of Kyiv by early February,’ U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Monday. 

In light of the movements and threat posed in Eastern Europe, the U.S. on Monday ordered family members of its government employees currently in Belarus to leave the country

The State Department said: ‘Due to an increase in unusual and concerning Russian military activity near the border with Ukraine, U.S. citizens located in or considering travel to Belarus should be aware that the situation is unpredictable and there is heightened tension in the region.’ 

She added: ‘If Russia further invades Ukraine, none of us will be able to say we didn’t see it coming, and the consequences will be horrific.’

Russian also provided a response to deescalation proposals from the U.S. as the world wait to see if President Vladimir Putin goes against his word and invades Ukraine.

‘We can confirm we received a written follow-up from Russia,’ a U.S. official told The Washington Post on Monday. ‘It would be unproductive to negotiate in public, so we’ll leave it up to Russia if they want to discuss their response.’

‘We remain fully committed to dialogue to address these issues and will continue to consult closely with our allies and partners, including Ukraine,’ the official added.

The source, however, did not provide further details about what was proposed or what Russia said in its response.

The U.S. proposals were delivered by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last Tuesday. Blinken described the U.S. proposal as something that offers Russia ‘a serious diplomatic path forward.’

U.S. officials have assured, however, that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allied nations did not bow to Russia’s demand that it bar ex-Soviet bloc countries from entering the 30-country military alliance.

White House Press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday: ‘Russia has the power. They are the aggressor here. They have the power and ability to de-escalate, to pull their troops back from the border, to not push more troops to Belarus, to take steps to deescalate the situation on the ground.’

Russia accused the U.S. of ‘whipping up hysterics’ by calling for Monday’s UN Security Council meeting to discuss Ukraine, a nod towards their claim that Putin does not intend to invade Ukraine.

The Kremlin also said the West wants to make ‘heroes out of people who fought on the side of Hitler’ in order to divide the two former Soviet states.

Across his roughly 15-minute remarks Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya issued adamant denials about Moscow’s intentions while making blistering accusations about the West’s true intentions.

The US called for the 15-nation meeting in New York City, which took place earlier on Monday, as the world tensely watches Putin’s aggressive military buildup on Ukraine’s border and various intelligence reports indicate an incursion is all but certain. 

At the moment there are roughly 112,000 Russian ground forces on the doorstep of eastern Ukraine and in Crimea, its Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said on Monday, though earlier in the meeting Russia denied having any troops at the border at all. 

‘And together, with the maritime and aviation component, their number reaches about 130,000,’ he added.   

Thomas-Greenfield said Moscow’s mobilization of troops is the largest seen ‘in Europe in decades.’ 

As it was underway, President Biden released a statement warning of ‘swift and severe’ consequences if Russia invades Ukraine.  

‘If Russia is sincere about addressing our respective security concerns through dialogue, the United States and our Allies and partners will continue to engage in good faith,’ Biden said. ‘If instead Russia chooses to walk away from diplomacy and attack Ukraine, Russia will bear the responsibility, and it will face swift and severe consequences.’ 

After failing to stop the meeting at its outset Nebenzya tore into the US and its Western allies, accusing them of trying to provoke a war between Russia and Ukraine.

‘Our Western colleagues are talking the need for de-escalation. However, first and foremost, they themselves are whipping up tensions and rhetoric and are provoking escalation,’ Nebenzya said.

‘You are almost calling for this, you want it to happen, you’re waiting for it to happen. As if you want to make your words become a reality.’  

He said Russian troops are ‘not actually on the border’ and that the buildup is a deployment of forces ‘in our own territory.’ 

Nebenzya also implied the West was lying about the number of troops, which reports indicate exceeds 100,000.

‘Where did you get the figure of 100,000 troops that are deployed, as you state, on the Russian-Ukrainian border, although that is not the case? We have never cited that figure. We’ve never confirmed that figure,’ he said.

He went as far as to accuse the US of ‘brainwashing’ Ukrainians.

‘They’re cultivated with Russophobia and radical thinking, leading to the belief that for Ukraine to have a bright future It mustn’t establish relations with its neighbors but rather at any cost, strive to join the EU and NATO,’ Nebenzya said.

‘They are banning Russian, which is a native language for a significant if not the majority of people in Ukraine.’

He added: ‘They are making heroes out of those people who fought on the side of Hitler, who destroyed Jews, Poles, Ukrainians and Russians.’ 

Nebenzya went so far as to accuse western governments of bringing ‘nazis’ to power in Ukraine after the country overthrew its pro-Russian government in 2014 in favor of democratically elected officials who wanted a warmer relationship with the rest of Europe.

‘If our western colleagues who provoked and supported the 2014 Bloody anti-constitutional bringing to powering key of nationalist, radicals, Russophobes and pure fascists — nazis, rather, if they’d not done this, then we today would be living in a state of good neighborly relations,’ he said.

Thomas-Greenfield hit back at Russia, stating she was ‘disappointed’ but not ‘surprised’ by her Kremlin colleague’s searing remarks.

‘I cannot let the false equivalency go unchecked. So I, I feel I must respond. Let me be clear — there are no plans to weaken Russia, as claimed by our Russian colleague today,’ she said.

‘On the contrary, we welcome Russia as a responsible member of the international community, but its actions on the border of Ukraine are not responsible.

‘The threats of aggression on the border of Ukraine — yes, on its border — are provocative. Our reactions to threats on the ground are not provocative.’ 

Speaking to reporters after the meeting concluded, Biden said he had a ‘productive talk last week with President Zelensky and we continue to engage in nonstop diplomacy’ 

‘We continue to urge diplomacy as the best way forward but with Russia continuing its buildup… we are ready no matter what happens,’ the president added. 

The Security Council meeting was contentious from the outset, with the Russian ambassador calling for a vote on whether it should proceed in the first place. 

But the effort failed with only Russia and China voted against it, 10 countries voting for it and Gabon, India and Kenya abstaining.

At the meeting’s outset Nebenzya accused the US of trying to ‘whip up hysterics’ and denounced ‘the myth of Russian aggression.’

He added that reports of Russia’s military build up in preparation for an attack are ‘unfounded accusations.’  

Thomas-Greenfield challenged Nebezya’s charges, declaring: ‘Imagine how uncomfortable you would feel if you had 100,00 troops on your border.’ 

But Nebezya dismissed Thomas-Greenfield’s comments as a ‘hodgepodge of accusations’ and compared the US’s preparations for a possible war in Eastern Europe to former Defense Secretary Colin Powell’s infamous 2003 speech to the United Nations that preceded the Iraq war. 

Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the Biden administration of putting out misleading information in order to foment further tensions.

‘To our dismay, American media have lately been publishing a very large amount of unverified, distorted and deliberately deceitful information about what’s happening in Ukraine and around it,’ Peskov said according to multiple media reports.

‘Hysteria hyped up by Washington is causing hysteria in Ukraine, almost to the point that people are packing their bags for the front. It’s a fact. And this is the reverse side, very harmful side of the campaign which Washington is pursuing now.’ 

Meanwhile the Biden administration is reportedly drawing up ‘specific sanctions packages’ targeting Russian oligarchs and ‘elites’ in the Kremlin’s inner circle that would be levied if Moscow invades Ukraine, it was revealed on Monday. 

On Tuesday, State Secretary Antony Blinken is preparing to have a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 

But behind the scenes, US officials are reportedly looking at ‘a broad list of individuals’ and their families to target with harsh economic penalties if Moscow moves forward, according to the Financial Times.

‘Putin’s cronies will no longer be able to use their spouses or other family members as proxies to evade sanctions,’ senior administration officials told the outlet. 

‘The individuals we have identified are in or near the inner circles of the Kremlin and play a role in government decision making or are at a minimum complicit in the Kremlin’s destabilising behaviour.’

They did not name specific individuals so as not to give the intended targets advance notice, but reportedly chose oligarchs with a significant financial interest in the West.

‘Sanctions would cut them off from the international financial system and ensure that they and their family members will no longer be able to enjoy the perks of parking their money in the west and attending elite western universities,’ the Biden officials said.

An administration official told CNN that these were considered ‘particularly vulnerable targets.’ 

They said the sanctions being worked out would be ‘massive’ in scale in order to ‘atrophy Russia’s ability to pursue its strategic ambitions.’

‘The Russian elite should fear the consequences that would befall them should Russia further invade,’ the official said.  

The Russian elites to be targeted come from ‘any sector of the Russian economy as identified by the Secretary of the Treasury’ and include some names from a 2018 list of powerful individuals and companies designated by the Trump administration.

The Treasury’s 2018 list includes ‘seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank’ designated by the Treasury under the Trump administration,’ according to the Department. 

An official reportedly said he sanctions are only part of the broad swath of penalties the US is looking at should Russia invade Ukraine. 

President Biden said last week he would not rule out sanctioning Putin personally, as US reports indicate an ‘imminent’ invasion and the United Kingdom’s intelligence pointed to an alleged coup plot by the Russians in Ukraine’s capital of Kiev.

At the same time, federal lawmakers in Congress are preparing to act on their own sanctions package. 

In a show of bipartisan unity, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez and ranking member Sen. Jim Risch appeared on CNN together Sunday to discuss a two-tiered approach to punishing Russia.

It would likely include measures to levy sanctions over actions Russia has already taken, such as a massive cyberattack against Ukraine’s government that Kiev claims Moscow is responsible for.

They’re also looking to potentially send more weapons to Ukraine on top of the lethal and defensive aid already sent. 

Russia’s threatening posture toward the former Soviet state has accelerated the worsening of relations between Moscow and Washington, now at their lowest point since the Cold War. 

Monday will mark the highest-profile attempt by the West to deter Russia through diplomacy, as representatives of the most powerful nations in the world gather in New York. 

Previous talks held between Russia and the US and its NATO allies in Europe have so far failed to break ground. 

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who will be at Monday’s meeting, told ABC News in a television interview on Sunday: ‘We’ve made clear that we’re prepared to address our concerns, Ukrainian concerns and Russian concerns at the diplomatic table, but it cannot be done on the battlefield.’ 

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday accused Nato of trying to pull Kiev into the alliance, despite Russia massing 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders. Moscow wants Nato to rule out Ukraine ever becoming a member as a condition for its withdrawal.

The head of Russia’s security council, Nikolai Patrushev, said talk of a Russian invasion was ‘completely ridiculous’ and claimed: ‘We don’t want war and we don’t need it at all.’  

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are joining territorial forces to fight alongside 250,000 regular troops to defend their country. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said there are ‘no plans’ to deploy Nato combat troops to Ukraine.

He noted there was ‘a difference’ between being a full NATO member, with a mutual defense obligation between countries, and a ‘strong and highly valued partner’ such as Ukraine.  

Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine has expanded to include supplies of blood along with other medical materials that would allow it to treat casualties, in yet another key indicator of Moscow’s military readiness, three US officials told Reuters.

Current and former US officials say concrete indicators — like blood supplies — are critical in determining whether Moscow would be prepared to carry out an invasion, if Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to do so. 

The Pentagon has previously acknowledged the deployment of ‘medical support’ as part of Russia’s buildup. But the disclosure of blood supplies adds a level of detail that experts say is critical to determining Russian military readiness.

‘It doesn’t guarantee that there’s going to be another attack, but you would not execute another attack unless you have that in hand,’ said Ben Hodges, a retired US lieutenant general now with the Center for European Policy Analysis research institute.