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94,000 Russian troops on Ukraine border make them afraid of invasion

MOSCOW – The Kremlin said on Friday that President Vladimir Putin would seek binding guarantees preventing NATO’s expansion into Ukraine during a planned call with US President Joe Biden, while an intelligence report was filed. of the United States and Ukraine’s Defense Minister warned of the possibility of Russia invading Ukraine soon after. next month.

Amid growing tensions between Russia and the West, Mr Biden said his administration was “putting together what I believe is the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to get Mr. it’s very difficult to go ahead and do what everyone is worried about. He can do “in deploying troops near Ukraine.

The head of NATO and many former US diplomats and security officials say that Russia’s request that Biden remove NATO membership for Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that aspires to alliance with the West, is not smart.

“There is absolutely no way in the world that that Russian position will make any progress,” said John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine. “It’s basically a rhetorical stance towards Moscow.” The United States is likely to ensure that Western military assistance to Ukraine is only defensive in nature, he said.

Ukraine, the United States and other Western allies are increasingly concerned that a Russian military buildup near Ukraine’s border could signal Moscow’s intentions to invade. Officials say it remains unclear whether Putin intends to mount an invasion or appears to be threatening an invasion in hopes of forcing concessions from Ukraine and its Western allies. The United States has threatened the Kremlin with the toughest sanctions if it launches an attack, while Russia has warned that any presence of NATO troops and weapons on Ukrainian soil will overwhelm Ukraine. “red line”.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told lawmakers on Friday that Russian troops near Ukraine and in Russia-annexed Crimea are estimated at 94,300, and warned of a “large-scale escalation.” could happen in January.

An unclassified US intelligence report released on Friday, citing recent movements of artillery, troops and materials near the Ukrainian border, said Russia was planning the possibility of a military strike. with 175,000 troops early next year.

According to US reports, about half of those units were near the Ukrainian border. The intelligence discovery was first reported by The Washington Post. A Biden administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the finding, confirmed it to the Associated Press.

Amid rising tensions, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Friday that arrangements have been made for a Putin-Biden phone call in the coming days, adding that today will be announced after Moscow and Washington finalize the details.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki later said administration officials were “involved in the possibility” of a Biden-Putin call.

“It will certainly be an opportunity to discuss our serious concerns about the harsh rhetoric, about the military build-up that we are seeing on the Ukrainian border,” Psaki said.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met face-to-face with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Stockholm to demand that Russia withdraw its troops from its border with Ukraine. Lavrov countered that the West was “playing with fire” by denying Russia a say in any NATO expansion into the former Soviet Union.

Ukraine has pushed to join the alliance, which has promised membership but has not set a timeline.

Ushakov noted that in a phone call with Biden, Putin will raise a request for a legally binding agreement that “excludes any NATO expansion eastward and the deployment of weapons systems that could threaten us on the territory of neighboring countries, including Ukraine.”

Russia has long pushed for such agreements, Ushakov said, noting that it has become particularly acrimonious due to the latest rise in tensions. “It simply cannot go on like that,” he said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this week said Russia has no authority over whether Ukraine joins the Western security alliance.

It is up to Ukraine and its 30 allies to decide when Ukraine is ready to join the alliance. Russia “has no veto power, no power to interfere in that process.”

Russia and Ukraine are still locked in a tense tug-of-war after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and gave weight to a separatist insurgency in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. More than 14,000 people died in the fighting.

Ukraine’s defense minister on Friday warned that escalation “is a possible, but uncertain scenario, and it is our duty to prevent it.”

“Our intelligence service analyzes all situations, including the worst ones. “The most likely time when (Russia) is ready for an escalation is the end of January.”

Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament, reaffirmed Moscow’s denial that it was considering an attack.

“We don’t have any plans to attack Ukraine. We don’t have any military operations near the Ukrainian border. There are no preparations for an attack,” Kosachev told state television. Russia-24 of Russia.

The Kremlin has voiced concern that Ukraine could use force to regain control of the rebels’ east. And heightening tensions, the head of a Russian-backed breakaway republic in eastern Ukraine on Thursday said he could turn to Moscow for military support if the region faces a threat. with a Ukrainian attack.

Reznikov said Ukraine will not do anything to provoke Russia but is ready to respond in the event of an attack. “Ukraine is most interested in a political and diplomatic solution,” said the defense minister.

He said that Ukraine would start construction this month on two naval bases with British support – one at Ochakiv on the Black Sea and the other at Berdyansk on the Sea of ​​Azov.

“The development of the navy and missile program is one of our priorities,” he said.

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Karmanau reports from Kyiv, Ukraine. Ellen Knickmeyer and Aamer Madhani in Washington and Dasha Litvinova in Moscow contributed to this report.

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