Do not make another ‘serious mistake’, Russia told

The United States has warned Russia against making another “serious mistake” on Ukraine as it seeks clarity about troop movements near the border.

Welcoming Ukraine’s foreign minister to Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was “concerned with reports of the unusual Russian activity near Ukraine”.

“Our concern is that Russia may make the serious mistake of attempting to rehash what it undertook back in 2014 when it amassed forces along the border, crossed into sovereign Ukrainian territory and did so claiming falsely that it was provoked,” Blinken said.

“Our commitment to

Ukraine’s sovereignty, to its independence, to its territorial integrity is ironclad, and the international community will see through any Russian effort to resort to its previous tactics,” Blinken said.

Ukraine has been ensnared in a war with pro-Moscow separatists in its largely Russian-speaking east since 2014 when Russia seized the Crimea peninsula.

Russia took action after mass protests led to the ousting of the president who had suspended efforts to move closer to the European Union.

Russia in March also amassed 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders. It pulled back, but both Ukraine and the US said at the time that the withdrawal was limited.

Ukraine Foreign Minister

Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine was looking to work with the US to step up its defences and “does not intend to attack anyone”.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said last week that about 90,000 Russian troops were stationed not far from the border and in rebelcontrolled areas in Ukraine’s east. It said specifically that units of the Russian 41st army have remained in Yelnya, about 260km north of the Ukrainian border.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the movement by Russia was “unusual in its size and scope”.

“We urge Russia to be clear about their intentions and to abide by their Minsk agreements,” he said, referring to agreements to try to halt the fighting inside Ukraine.

The comments followed a rare visit to Moscow last week by the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, who met President Vladimir Putin.

The US cable network CNN reported that President Joe Biden deployed Burns, the former US ambassador to Moscow, to raise the issue of the Russian troop surge directly with the Kremlin.

The US was also watching for signs that Russia may be using energy as a political tool in Europe’s energy crunch, Blinken said, adding that Washington was committed to take appropriate action, along with Germany, if Moscow were to take that path.

Russia has been accused of holding back energy supplies amid record high gas prices, but Putin has blamed the EU’s energy policy and said Russia could boost supplies to Europe once the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline got approved.

Washington opposes the US$11 billion pipeline, currently nearing completion, which runs under the Baltic Sea to carry gas from Russia’s Arctic region to Germany. It is also bitterly opposed by Ukraine and Poland, which are bypassed by the route.

The Biden administration has waived sanctions on the pipeline’s operator and reached an agreement with Germany in July over the pipeline.

Germany agreed to take action if Russia used energy as a weapon in its relations with Ukraine, but the pact did not provide a specific criteria for how that would be judged.