Russia on Tuesday reported a pullback of troops near its neighbour, Ukraine and welcomed talks with the West. The United States and its allies have since said that they need evidence of the troop movements and that the threat of a Russian invasion still looms.
President Vladimir Putin affirmed on Tuesday that Russia does not want war. It would rely on negotiations in its efforts to eliminate any chance that Ukraine could one day join NATO, the key demand in the crisis. At the same time, Putin did not commit to a full pullback, saying Russia’s next moves in the standoff will depend on how the situation evolves.
President Joe Biden said American officials has not verified Russia’s claim. He promised that the U.S. would give diplomacy “every chance,” but struck a sceptical tone about Moscow’s intentions.
Russia publishes video of withdrawals
Russia's defence ministry published video on Wednesday that it said showed a column of tanks and military vehicles leaving annexed Crimea across a railway bridge after drills, adding that some troops would also return to their permanent bases.
The video, published by the RIA news agency, showed dozens of military vehicles crossing the bridge at night.
A separate convoy of service vehicles drove across a different bridge, the TASS news agency cited the military as saying.
Scepticism continues
A Russian attack on Ukraine is "still very much a possibility" and the human cost would be "immense", US President Joe Biden said in remarks televised nationally. He also said that the US was ready to respond decisively to such a move.
On Tuesday, Ukraine said the websites of its Defence Ministry and two banks came under a cyber-attack. The cause is not clear but Ukraine has suffered large-scale attacks before on its online infrastructure and has pointed the finger at Russia.
Nato expressed "cautious optimism" on Tuesday about the Russian military's announcement that it had pulled back some of its troops from the border with Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that there were "mixed signals" coming from Russia, because UK intelligence showed Russian field hospitals were being built near the border which could "only be construed as a preparation for an invasion".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a joint press conference that the build-up of Russian troops was "incomprehensible", but there was still a chance that diplomatic solutions could ease the tensions.
Friction between Ukraine and Russia currently centers around the terms of the Minsk agreements, two treaties signed in 2014 and 2015, brokered by France and Germany, which resulted in a ceasefire in Donbass and created a roadmap to continued peace in the region. Their terms have yet to be implemented.
As part of the agreements, the Ukrainian government pledged to grant “special status” to the Donbass region. However, in the meantime, Kiev has backtracked from the deals, now suggesting that the Minsk agreement is unfair and was a non-binding instrument to end the war. It has also insisted that granting autonomy to the two Donbass republics would damage the sanctity of the state.
-AP/Reuters/BBC/RT