The Kremlin confirmed today, Tuesday, the start of a “planned” withdrawal of Russian forces from the border with Russia Ukraine After completing some military exercises, this was reported by Sky News.
The US Associated Press has said that the Kremlin and the West have signaled a diplomatic path out of the Ukraine crisis, even as Russia continues preparations for a possible invasion, including moving troops and military equipment close to its neighbor.
In their meeting yesterday, Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that Russia is ready to continue dialogue regarding its security grievances that led to the crisis.
The Associated Press said the comments were intended to send a message to the world regarding Putin’s position and offered some hope that war might be avoided, even as Washington, London and other countries continued their warnings that troops might move into Ukraine as soon as Wednesday.
Lavrov said that the talks cannot continue indefinitely, but he proposes to continue and expand them at this stage, noting that Washington offered to discuss limits to the deployment of missiles in Europe, restrictions on military exercises and other confidence-building measures.
Moscow is seeking to ensure that NATO will not allow Ukraine and any of the countries of the former Soviet Union to join it as members. And it wants NATO to stop the deployment of weapons in Ukraine and keep its forces away from Eastern Europe.
