The Russia announces the withdraw troops, theWest remains wary. The de-escalation of the crisis in Ukraine continues following the same pattern: this morning Moscow announced the end of military exercises in the Crimea annexe, where the deployment of troops had fueled the fears of an invasion. The soldiers, the Ministry of Defense announced in a statement, are returning to their garrisons: the news follows precisely a first withdrawal of Russian troops from the borders of Ukraine on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the foreign minister of the Belarus, Vladimir Makeitaken over by the agency Ria Novosti, said that after the end of the exercises all Russian military will leave his country. “I believe the diplomacy he didn’t say the last word but now we have to see the facts in addition to words ”, however, commented the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the Strasbourg plenary. “NATO has not yet seen clear signs of withdrawal“, he added. Words also confirmed by the Secretary General of the Atlantic Pact, Jens Stoltenberg and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky: “We haven’t seen any retreat yet, we’ve only heard about it.” Saturday, i G7 foreign ministers they will hold a meeting on the situation in Ukraine. It was Stoltenberg himself who instead denounced that the EU defense ministers “have assessed that the military massing” by Russia around Ukraine continues. “We don’t see any signs of de-escalation on the ground, all of that has to change. There is a large number of forces ready to attack“.
“The units of the Southern Military District, after having completed their participation in tactical exercises, they are moving towards theirs deployment points permanent, ”the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. At the same time, the Moscow state TV broadcast images of military units crossing a ponte which connects the Russian-controlled peninsula to the land. It is good that Biden wants to continue the talks, then let the Kremlin know about the words of the US president: “We aim for written negotiations with Moscow”.
Despite Zelensky’s words, a Kiev intelligence report nevertheless reiterates that “the Russian military contingent near the Ukrainian border is not enough to successfully carry out alarge-scale armed aggression against Ukraine “. The total number of Russian forces, they argue, has increased to over 148mila, including over 126 thousand ground soldiers. According to the new Kiev intelligence assessment, there are currently 87 Russian battalion battle groups on constant alert around Ukraine, 53 more than those normally based in the area. The report then states that Russia at the moment “is focusing on destabilization the internal situation of Ukraine ”, including with the use of economic and energy tools, in addition to cyber attacks.
NATO has “heard” Russia’s openings towards a diplomatic exit from the Ukrainian crisis, but “so far we have not seen no de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary, we see an accumulation of troops ”and“ we have not received answers to the written document ”which was sent to Moscow. The NATO secretary general underlines this Jens Stoltenberg. “So far – he continues – we do not see any de-escalation: we are monitoring. If they really start withdrawing troops, that’s welcome. They always moved troops back and forthbut the equipment ”remains in place and“ the trend in recent weeks and months is of an increase”Of the military presence on the border with Ukraine. “Russia retains the ability to lead a real one invasion of Ukraine, without any warning ”, is the NATO position. “What we see – adds Stoltenberg – is a very strong military presence, but also an opportunity for diplomacy“.
Skepticism is shared in Brussels. Even the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrellhe expressed caution this morning in the face of the announcement of the withdrawal of Russian forces from Crimea, stressing that it is necessary first “check it out“. Commenting on the news on the radio microphones France Inter, the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy said that the withdrawal, “if it were true, without a doubt” would be a sign of detente. However, she added: “We have to always check“. “Russia has tried to ignore the existence of the EU by sending the message that it believes the EU is not one important interlocutor for safety in Europe. For split the European front the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in fact he sent letters to the 27 capitals, hoping to receive 27 different answers but he received only one in the name of all, ”Borrell later said in his speech to European Parliament.
At the Strasbourg plenary session, von der Leyen also spoke: “We have examined all the possible perturbations if Russia chooses to use energy as a pressure lever and I can say that for this winter we are safe“Said the president of the EU Commission. “With the member states we have fine-tuned emergency measures that we can field if we arrive at a total crisis: beyond 200 LNG ships they are on their way to Europe, ”he said. “But we must also invest to free ourselves from dependence on Russia for gas “. About the European sanctions in case of war in Ukraine, von der Leyen explained: “We will hit the strategic interests by diversifying our economy, we are leaders in the world of high-tech components so Russia is completely dependent on us, our sanctions really can leave the mark and the Kremlin knows it well ”. The head of Palazzo Berlaymont also announced that he had had a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi: “I had an exchange with Prime Minister Draghi on the current security situation. A de-escalation would be welcome but there are no concrete signals from Russia. We also talked about the promptness of the response on the security of energy supplies, for the benefit of the EU of Italy ”.
New openings for the start of a dialogue between the two Russian and Ukrainian presidents are opened again by the Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in fact, he announced that Zelensky said he was willing to meet the head of state of Moscow in Ankara or Istanbul. “During our meeting” in Kiev on February 3, “Zelensky said that he is open to a trilateral summit between Putin, Zelensky and Erdogan” said the Turkish leader, as reported by the agency Anatoliatalking to reporters on a return trip from United Arab Emirates to Turkey.