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Fear of a military escalation in Ukraine peaked on Tuesday night as President Biden spoke of “the start of an invasion.”
A Ukrainian soldier on the front line, Tuesday February 22, 2022.
AFP
The green light Tuesday from the Russian Parliament for a military operation in Ukraine is “the start of an invasion” of the country, denounced US President Joe Biden, unveiling the first sanctions once morest Moscow, like its Western partners.
The fear of a military escalation in Ukraine, at the gates of which 150,000 Russian soldiers have, according to Washington, been deployed, has been at its peak since Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the independence of the secessionist entities of Lugansk and Donetsk.
The Russian president is “developing justifications to go much further,” Joe Biden said in an address to the nation, 24 hours following his counterpart’s major decision. “There is still time to avoid the worst,” he added, however.
In Moscow, Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov read before the Senate a request from the Russian President to deploy troops in the entities of Donetsk and Lugansk, on the grounds that a “(Ukrainian) army of 60,000 men and of heavy armour” would be ready to attack.
Evacuation of Russian diplomats
Just following receiving the agreement of elected officials, Vladimir Putin once once more denounced the abuses that Kiev is committing according to him once morest the separatists of Donbass. He cast doubt on the timetable for sending armed forces, calling for a “demilitarization” of Ukraine, which would “better” to give up his ambition to join NATO to choose “neutrality”.
“I didn’t say that our soldiers are going to go there now (…) It will depend, as they say, on the situation on the ground,” he said. Immediately followingwards, Russian diplomacy announced the forthcoming evacuation of its diplomats from Ukraine. Vladimir Putin also claimed for the separatists all of the administrative regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, the area of which greatly exceeds that of the territories under their control.
He mentioned hypothetical “negotiations” between Kiev and pro-Russian forces. The Russian intervention would be legally justified by the ratification Tuesday of mutual aid agreements, in particular at the military level. And Moscow has also established diplomatic relations with the two regions.
First sanctions
NATO expects “a massive attack” from Russia in Ukraine, announced in this context its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg. Without waiting, the West took the first sanctions in response to the recognition of the separatists that Kiev has been fighting for eight years, a conflict which has left more than 14,000 dead.
The most dramatic measure was announced by Berlin, which froze the gigantic Nord Stream II gas pipeline project, which was to bring even more Russian gas to Germany. At the White House, Biden announced to him a “first tranche” of sanctions aimed at preventing Moscow from raising Western funds to repay its sovereign debt. They will also target Russian banks and certain “elites” of the country.
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken for his part announced that he would not meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov as planned on Thursday in Geneva. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a “series of economic sanctions” once morest Russia “until the territorial integrity of Ukraine is restored”.
The EU has adopted a package of sanctions that “will hurt Russia very much”, assured the head of its diplomacy, Josep Borrell. And British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced sanctions targeting three oligarchs close to the Kremlin and five Russian banks, minimum measures for London, the financial stronghold of the great Russian fortunes.
(AFP)