Olaf Scholz expected in Moscow, timid hopes of avoiding war
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected in Moscow on Tuesday in search of a diplomatic solution to avoid a war in Ukraine, the West and Russia evoking timid opportunities to achieve this.
Olaf Scholz in Kiev on February 14, 2022.
AFP
On Monday in Kiev, Olaf Scholz urged Russia to seize “offers for dialogue”, as more than 100,000 Russian troops are massed on Ukraine’s borders and the United States says these capabilities have been further stretched. strengthened in recent days.
In the event of an attack, the German Chancellor warned, “we will take far-reaching measures which will have a significant impact on Russia’s economic development possibilities”. He specified that he would express this message on Tuesday in Moscow.
“Military action might occur at any time,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday. His counterpart at the State Department, Ned Price, stressed to him that the United States saw “no concrete signs of de-escalation”.
“There remains a crucial opportunity for diplomacy”, however underlined the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the American President Joe Biden who spoke Monday by telephone.
“There is always a chance”, also declared the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov, answering a question from Vladimir Putin, according to images broadcast on television. “Our possibilities are far from being exhausted”, continued the minister, even proposing to “prolong and broaden” the dialogue. Much less offensive remarks than those that have emanated from Moscow in recent weeks. “Good”, replied the Russian president laconically. Sergei Lavrov also called some of the US proposals “constructive”.
“Unity Day”
Media have raised Wednesday as a potential day for a Russian invasion. A hypothesis that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seemed to sweep away, with a dose of sarcasm. “We are told that February 16 will be the day of the attack. We will make it a day of unity,” he said in an address to the nation, calling on Ukrainians to hang the blue and yellow national flag on this day.
For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that “all the elements” were in place for a “strong” Russian military offensive. “There is no indication today” that President Putin has made a decision, he added.
But, according to the Russian ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, his country “will not invade Ukraine unless we are provoked”.
As if to give the impression of an appeasement, the Russian Defense Minister also announced on Monday the end of certain military maneuvers, while the exercises on the Russian-Ukrainian borders and in Belarus fuel fears of an escalation. “Exercises are taking place, one part is over, another part is coming to an end. Others are still being made given (their) size,” Sergei Shoigu told Vladimir Putin.
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