Russia Ukraine crisis: Russian military says drills finished, some troops returning to bases

Russia, Feb 15: The Russian military on Tuesday said that some of its troops are returning to bases from the Ukraine border as a number of drills have finished. Moscow has massed well over 1,30,000 troops near the Ukrainian borders.

Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Kyiv issued a statement asking citizens whose stay in Ukraine is non-essential to consider leaving the country “temporarily.” The embassy will continue to function normally.

Russia’s top diplomat advised President Vladimir Putin to keep talking with the West on Moscow’s security demands, a signal from the Kremlin that it intends to continue diplomatic efforts amid US warnings of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow wants guarantees from the West that NATO won’t allow Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to join as members and that the alliance will halt weapons deployments to Ukraine and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe, the demands flatly rejected by the West. The US and its NATO allies have repeatedly warned that Russia will pay a high price for any invasion — but they have sometimes struggled to present a united front.

EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell threatens that Russia’s ambitious Nord Stream 2 project, which is a 750-miles pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, will not become operational if there’s a war between Russia and Ukraine.

Biden Administration has repeatedly warned Russia of “severe consequences” in case its forces invade Ukraine and has insisted on a diplomatic solution to the issue.

We are actively working to reach a diplomatic solution to de-escalate the crisis. Over the weekend, as you all know, the President spoke with President Putin, and we remain engaged with the Russian government in full coordination with our allies and partners,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.


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Here is what Russia is demanding..

  • In December last year, Russia demanded that Nato abandon all its military activity in Eastern Europe. It included the demand for the withdrawal of Nato battalions from Poland and the Baltics.
  • Russia has placed forth a demand that Nato must never admit Ukraine as a member.
  • It has demanded a legal guarantee that the West, through Nato or any other organization, will desist from expansion further eastward.
  • It also demanded nuclear disarmament of the US in Europe.
  • Russia’s demands implied that the US and other Nato members would have to pull out their forces and stop the supply of arms to nations like Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Lithuania.
  • On Russia’s demands, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had earlier said, “It is up to Ukraine and 30 [Nato] allies to decide when Ukraine is ready to join the alliance. Russia has no veto, no right to interfere in that process.”

Ukraine is currently a part of Nato’s Individual Partnership Action Plan that was launched in 2002. The IPAP enables dialogues and close cooperation between the Nato and Ukraine, something that Russia fears will lead to permanent membership of the country in the Western Alliance body.

Nato, thus, has no legally binding obligation to protect Ukraine. But due to its strategic location and Russia’s history with Crimea, the West is protecting it to serve its own interests.