Ukraine: Europe relaunches talks, Washington fears an imminent attack

Russian, Ukrainian, French and German negotiators met at midday in the French capital in the format Normandy to try to defuse the crisis after a series of talks between Russians and Americans last week.

The meeting was still in progress around 3 p.m. (GMT) and speeches by Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were expected in the afternoon.

It is very encouraging that the Russians have agreed to re-enter this diplomatic format, the only one in which the Russians are involved. This meeting will give a clear indication of the state of mind of the Russians, before the meeting on Friday between Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putinestimated the Elysee.

We want de-escalation, which requires both dialogue and deterrenceadded the French presidency.

An attack by mid-February?

Tensions have risen steadily in recent months around Ukraine, with Moscow accused by the West of moving tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine’s borders for an offensive. Russia, for its part, demands guarantees for its security, including the rejection of this country’s accession to theNorth Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNATO.

Everything indicates that President Vladimir Putin will use military force at some point, possibly between now and mid-FebruaryUS Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Wednesday.

The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, had previously claimed that if the West pursues[vai]you [sur] his warlike wayMoscow would take necessary response measures and denounced hysteria the West about the supposed imminence of a Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

Americans like theNorth Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNATO on Wednesday handed in their written response demanded by Russia to its demands for the non-enlargement of the Alliance to Ukraine and for the withdrawal of allied forces from Eastern Europe. Requests deemed unacceptable by most Western countries.

Within the framework of past negotiations between the Russians and the Americans, the latter and theNorth Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNATO must send a written response to Moscow’s demands by the end of the week, theFrance Media AgencyAFP several Alliance diplomatic sources, with a European official calling many of these demandsunacceptable.

President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he could design to personally sanction Vladimir Putin, promising tohuge consequences if Moscow attacked Ukraine, a decision that would change the world.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov retorted on Wednesday that such sanctions would not be not painful politically for the Russian head of state, although destructive for relations between Moscow and the West.

A dialogue is taking place on sanctions with European and American partners and the institutionsexplained the French presidency, specifying that possible sanctions must not lead to aftershocks that would cost us a boomerang. Sanctions are not the be-all and end-all of the response.

Not enough soldiers to invade, says Kiev

Russia has increased military maneuvers in recent weeks, including on the Ukrainian borders with exercises launched on Tuesday involving some 6,000 men, fighter jets and bombers in the South and in Crimea, a peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.

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In this photo, taken from a video provided by the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry, the frigate Admiral Essen prepares to take part in military exercises in the Black Sea, on January 26, 2022.

Photo: Associated Press

Russia has also massed up to 100,000 troops on Ukrainian borders. If Ukraine has been alarmed for weeks by an imminent invasion, it nevertheless estimated on Wednesday that this number was still insufficient to launch a major attack on the country.

This number is important, it poses a threat to Ukrainecorn as we speak, this number is insufficient for a full-scale offensive against Ukraine along the entire Ukrainian bordersaid the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba.

The United States, for its part, placed some 8,500 soldiers on alert Monday, which could reinforce the Rapid Reaction Force of theNorth Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNATO of 40,000 soldiers. However, the decision to deploy them has not been taken.

L’North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNATO has announced that it is placing forces on standby and sending ships and fighter jets to strengthen its defenses in Eastern Europe, while Russia considers Alliance troops in its neighborhood an existential threat .

Another possible source of tension, a senior Russian parliament official, Andrei Tourchak, called on Wednesday for the delivery of weapons to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, which Kiev has been fighting since 2014 in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people. dead.