Moscow – War of words continue in the Ukraine crisis as Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the U.S. and its allies of ignoring Russia’s top security demands. He also said that Moscow is willing to talk more to ease tensions over Ukraine.
In his first direct public comments on the crisis for nearly six weeks, a defiant Putin showed no sign of backing down from security demands that the West has called non-starters and a possible excuse to launch an invasion, which Moscow denies.
Russia is expected to respond soon to a U.S. proposal for negotiations on lesser Russian demands after which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak.
In remarks to reporters at a Moscow news conference with the visiting leader of NATO ally Hungary, Putin said the Kremlin is still studying the U.S. and NATO’s response to the Russian security demands received last week. But he said it was clear that the West has ignored Russian demands that NATO not expand to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations, refrain from deploying offensive weapons near Russia and roll back its deployments to Eastern Europe.
Putin argued that it’s possible to negotiate an end to the standoff if the interests of all parties, including Russia’s security concerns, are taken into account. “I hope that we will eventually find a solution, although we realize that it’s not going to be easy,” Putin said.
Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops along the border of Ukraine, fuelling fears of an invasion, all the while denying any plan to attack.
Putin described a potential future scenario in which Ukraine was admitted to NATO and then attempted to recapture the Crimea peninsula, territory Russia seized in 2014.
Russia annexed Crimea in early 2014 and, shortly afterward, Russian-backed separatists began fighting Ukrainian government forces in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, that has killed over 14,000 people. Some 1.5 million people have fled the region to other parts of Ukraine and thousands of civilians and soldiers have died or been injured.
Putin charged that while the U.S. airs concerns about Ukraine’s security, it is using the ex-Soviet country as an “instrument” in its efforts to contain Russia.
Mixed remarks from world leaders
Speaking after talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, who has forged closer ties with Moscow than almost any other NATO member, Putin noted that it’s still possible to negotiate a settlement that would take every party’s concerns into account.
He said French President Emmanuel Macron may soon visit Moscow as part of renewed diplomatic efforts following their call on Monday.
Blinken, meanwhile, emphasized “the U.S. willingness, bilaterally and together with Allies and partners, to continue a substantive exchange with Russia on mutual security concerns.” However, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken was resolute in “the U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of all countries to determine their own foreign policy and alliances.”
Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the U.S. statement about its readiness for dialogue “doesn’t correlate” with Washington sending planeloads of military equipment to Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv for scheduled talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Johnson said the U.K. has a package of measures including sanctions ready to go “the moment the first Russian toecap crosses further into Ukrainian territory.”
Johnson said any Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to a military and humanitarian disaster.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, also visiting Kyiv, said Poland would help Ukraine with gas and arms supplies, as well as humanitarian and economic aid.
As Western countries rush to show solidarity with Ukraine, the U.S. urged Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to cancel a visit with Putin in Russia, a source told Reuters.
In other developments, Biden was expected to nominate career foreign service officer Bridget Brink to assume the long-vacant diplomatic post of American ambassador to Ukraine, according to a U.S. official familiar with the decision. Brink currently serves as the ambassador to Slovakia.
Ukrainian Catholic bishops in the U.S. asked Catholics to pray, be informed, and donate to help those affected by Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis. “People near the front line often lack the basics — clean water, food, clothes, medicine” they said. They compared Russian buildup of troops to King Herod’s thirst for power and hegemony.
In a statement dated Jan. 24, Catholic bishops in Ukraine and Poland cited former popes, papal encyclicals and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to show Catholic teaching that war is never the answer to problems.
At the beginning of the Catholic Church’s Day of prayer for peace in Ukraine on 26 January, Pope Francis made an earnest appeal to those in power: “Please, no more war.” The pope also urged people not to forget the more than five million people who died in Ukraine during World War II.
-Reuters,AP