Russia denies ill intentions at border
Troop build-up a shield against NATO, not threat to Ukraine, Kremlin declares
MOSCOW — The Kremlin rebuffed Friday allegations that a buildup of its troops near Ukraine reflects Moscow’s aggressive intentions, saying Russia needs to ensure its security in response to alleged NATO threats.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Western media reports that Moscow has intentions to invade Ukraine as a “hollow and unfounded attempt to incite tensions.”
“Russia doesn’t threaten anyone,” Peskov said during a conference call with reporters. “The movement of troops on our territory shouldn’t be a cause for anyone’s concern.”
Ukraine complained last week that Russia has kept tens of thousands of troops not far from the two countries’ borders after conducting war games in an attempt to exert further pressure on its ex-Soviet neighbor. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has supported a separatist insurgency that broke out that year in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry claimed that about 90,000 Russian troops are stationed not far from the border and in rebel-controlled areas in Ukraine’s east. It said units of the Russian 41st army have remained in Yelnya, a town about 160 miles north of the Ukrainian border.
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Lt. Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny, said Friday that Russia has about 2,100 military personnel in the rebel-controlled areas, noting that Russian military officers hold all commanding positions in the separatist forces.
Russia has cast its weight behind the separatist insurgency in Ukraine’s east that has left more than 14,000 dead. But Moscow has repeatedly denied any presence of its troops in eastern Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in Washington this week that the U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity is “ironclad.”
On Friday, Blinken pointed at Russia’s previous aggressive actions against Ukraine.
“I can’t speak to Russia’s intentions. We don’t know what they are,” he said Friday. “It would be a serious mistake for Russia to engage in a repeat of what it did in 2014.”
Blinken said the U.S. was “in very close consultation with European allies and partners on this.”
Asked Thursday if Russia planned to invade Ukraine, Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, replied that it “never planned, never did, and (is) never going to do it unless we’re provoked by Ukraine, or by somebody else.” He cited what he called many threats from Ukraine and allegedly provocative actions by U.S. warships in the Black Sea.
Officials in Moscow cite what they see as a string of recent worrisome signs of closer military links between U.S. and its allies and Ukraine. On an Oct. 19 visit to Kyiv, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “no third country has a veto over NATO’s membership decisions.”
Later last month, Ukraine used a drone made by NATO member Turkey for the first time to attack a Russian-backed separatist howitzer in response to a strike that killed one soldier and wounded another one.
This week, Russian officials have complained of what they say are stepped-up operations by western warships in the Black Sea and reconnaissance aircraft along its borders.
The reported Russian military buildup near Ukraine also raised concern in the European Union.
In Moscow, senior officials and others close to the leadership say the Kremlin aims to make clear that any further western steps to provide weapons or expand military facilities in Ukraine would cross Russia’s red line.
“Formal NATO membership may never happen, but military expansion on the territory is already underway, and this really poses a threat to the Russian Federation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month.
After discussing the issue with U.S. President Joe Biden earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said EU officials “fully support the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
European Commission spokesman Peter Stano told reporters Friday that the bloc is discussing the situation with partners, including the U.S. and United Kingdom, adding that “the information we gathered so far is rather worrying.”