Russia and Belarus launched joint military drills on Thursday, scheduled to continue until February 20. The exercises have raised concerns in Western countries, with fears that Moscow is plotting a major escalation in the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia hit back at the UK’s warnings on Russian activity, saying that Russian forces were operating on their own territory, unlike UK forces in the Baltic.
Speaking after talks with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he could not understand British anxiety over Russia’s military drills in Belarus. He also said that he had presented several facts to Truss during their talks, which he felt had been ignored.
Truss called Russia’s bluff, saying that if the country were serious about wanting to use diplomacy to defuse the crisis it would move the thousands of troops amassed on the border with Ukraine.
"I can't see any other reason for having 100,000 troops stationed on the Ukrainian border apart from to threaten Ukraine, and if Russia is serious about diplomacy they need to move those troops and desist from the threats," Truss told a news conference in Moscow, standing alongside Lavrov, AFP reported.
Also, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg held a press conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday morning. He told the press, “This is a dangerous moment for European security. The number of Russian forces is going up. The warning time for a possible attack is going down."
Johnson said that the UK’s intelligence on the crisis “remains grim”.
"I honestly don't think a decision has yet been taken (by Moscow). But that doesn't mean that it is impossible that something absolutely disastrous could happen very soon indeed”, he added.
Earlier, Ukraine said that Russian naval exercises near its southern coast had made navigation in the Black Sea and Azov Sea “virtually impossible”, and that Russia’s actions "show blatant disregard for the rules and principles of international law”.
The foreign ministry’s statement added: "Such aggressive actions by the Russian Federation as part of its hybrid war against Ukraine are unacceptable".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Western threats towards Moscow would do nothing to ease tensions over Ukraine.
"Ideological approaches, ultimatums, threats – this is the road to nowhere," Lavrov said at the start of talks with his British counterpart Liz Truss in Moscow.
He also described his meeting with Truss as “unprecedented”. It is the first visit of a British foreign secretary to Russia since 2017.
He said that if Britain wants to improve ties with Moscow, "we will, of course, reciprocate," adding that bilateral ties were "at their lowest point in recent years".
Truss said Britain "cannot ignore" the build-up of troops on Ukraine's border or "attempts to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty".
"There is an alternative route, a diplomatic route that avoids conflict and bloodshed," she said. "I am here to urge Russia to take that path".
Also, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said at a briefing on Thursday morning that Ukraine was preparing a response to Russian navy drills in the Black Sea.
Six Russian warships were heading to the Black Sea from the Mediterranean for naval drills, the Interfax news agency cited Russia's Defense Ministry as saying on Tuesday, in what it said was a pre-planned movement of military resources.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is in Moscow for talks with her Russian counterpart to urge the Kremlin not to attack or face "massive consequences" from Western sanctions.
For its part, the Russian defense ministry said that the exercises in Belarus would center around "suppressing and repelling external aggression."
Soldiers would practice beefing up sections of the Belarus border to block the delivery of weapons and ammunition into the country, among other scenarios, it said.
The games have exacerbated deeply strained ties between Russia and the West, which accuses Moscow of massing approximately 100,000 troops around the borders of Ukraine for a potential invasion.
Moscow and Minsk have not disclosed how many troops are participating in the drills, but the United States has said Russia was planning to dispatch 30,000 troops personnel to several regions in ex-Soviet Belarus.
Responding to Western concerns, the Kremlin has insisted that it has no intention of leaving the troops permanently on Belarusian territory.
