The Russian military is taking part in military exercises in the Astrakhan region of southern Russia in 2020.
Photographer: Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP / Getty Images
Russia announced the start of massive military exercises, sparking tensions with neighboring Ukraine amid Western concerns over the risk of resuming fighting.
More than 4,000 training exercises will be held in military districts across Russia in April, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in comments to the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday. website.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday reiterated his country’s desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to protect itself against Russia, and called members “the only way to ‘end the war’ in eastern Ukraine in a phone call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. The NATO chief was not engaged in a tweet later, saying the alliance remained “committed to our close partnership” with Ukraine.
Ukraine is calling for support amid an accumulation of Russian forces along its shared border, raising fears of an escalation in the seven-year conflict that has killed 13,000 people. Russia denies threatening Ukraine and accuses the Kiev government of preparing a military offensive to regain control of the eastern conflict zone.
Membership in NATO will not help Ukraine solve “its internal problems,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. “From our point of view, this will further aggravate the situation,” he said.
Zelenskiy also urged increased international pressure on Russia in a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, a day after speaking with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Last week, Ukraine’s foreign and defense ministers held talks with their US and British counterparts on tensions in the eastern Donbas region, while Zelenskiy’s chief of staff spoke to the U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
The U.S. State Department this week expressed concern about the movements of Russian troops, and spokesman Ned Price said Monday that “we are concerned about the recent escalation of Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine, including credible reports that have been emanating about the movements of Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine and occupied Crimea. “
‘Intimidation and aggression’
“At the highest levels of government, literally, through various institutions, we have sent this message very clearly to our Ukrainian counterparts and, implicitly, to the Russians as well, that we are on the side of Kiev, we are on the side of our partner, Ukraine, in the face of this intimidation and aggression, ”Price added.
The Russian ruble accelerated its fall amid geopolitical tensions, weakening 1.1% against the dollar to 77,252 at 18:34 in Moscow, the worst-performing emerging market currency.
Zelenskiy told Trudeau that 10 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the eastern area since March 26. The US and the European Union have sanctioned Russia for the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and support for separatists in the Ukrainian Donbas region. Russia denies involvement in the fighting.
The United States has provided Ukraine with defensive military equipment, including Javelin anti-tank missiles. In his first official phone call as president with Zelenskiy last week, Joe Biden pledged to run in Ukraine against Russian “aggression.”
On Tuesday, however, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the alliance should handle questions about NATO membership.
“This is a decision that NATO has to make,” Psaki said.
NATO members
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday appealed to Western nations to support what he called Kiev’s “absolutely unacceptable actions and statements.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin bitterly opposes Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO, although there is little desire for the alliance to accept an application for membership, as well as the inclination of the former Soviet republic to the West since the 2014 revolution that ousted pro-Moscow leader Viktor Yanukovych.
“The ostentation with which troops are moving confirms that Russia is shaking its sword instead of contemplating a blitzkrieg,” Maxim Samorukov, a member of the Carnegie Moscow Center, wrote on Monday. Still, tensions between the two sides mean a misstep or rogue action could drag them into a new military confrontation, he said.
With the implementation of a 2015 peace agreement stopped and in July tearing up the ceasefire, rising violence is hardening the stance on both sides, said Katharine Quinn-Judge, a Ukrainian analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a major escalation,” he said. “But we should be concerned because it is a deadlock symptom in the peace process.”
– With the assistance of Jennifer Jacobs
(Add a State Department comment from the seventh paragraph.)