War of Words : Testing, Testing ... Action, Camera!
"Russia and Belarus have encountered unprecedented threats, the nature and, perhaps, concentration of which are, unfortunately, much larger and much more dangerous than before."Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman"I honestly don't think a decision has yet been taken [by Moscow whether to attack].""But that doesn't mean that it is impossible that something absolutely disastrous could happen very soon indeed.""This is probably the most dangerous moment, I would say, in the course of the next few days, in what is the biggest security crisis that Europe has faced for decades, and we've got to get it right.""And I think that the combination of sanctions and military resolve, plus diplomacy is what is in order."British Prime Minister Boris Johnson"I'm honestly disappointed that what we have is a conversation between a dumb and a deaf person -- Our most detailed explanations fell on unprepared soil.""They say Russia is waiting until the ground freezes like a stone so its tanks can easily cross into Ukrainian territory. I think the ground was like that today with our British colleagues, from which numerous facts that we produced bounced off."Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov"I can't see any other reason for having 100,000 troops stationed on the border, apart from to threaten Ukraine.""And if Russia is serious about diplomacy, they need to remove those troops and desist from the threats."British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
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| Combat crews of the S-400 air-defense system take up combat duty at the training ground in the Brest region during the Russian-Belarusian military drills in Belarus. |
While senior Russian Foreign Ministry officials accuse the West of "blackmail and pressure" and stoking tensions by arming Ukraine, Russia's chief of the armed forces; general staff, General Valery Gerasimov arrived in Belarus for the ten-day drill arranged for show-and-tell. Ukraine troops to launch drills the very same day as the Russia-Belarus massive show of combined power. Ukraine will make use of the armed drones and anti-tank weapons given it by the United States and other NATO members.
Scheduled to go through to 20 February, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov admits the drills are to respond to the Russian exercises near its border. Ukraine still hopes to receive some military equipment from the West that, said Reznikov "we have long dreamed of". Following months of military buildup on Ukraine's borders, military analysts warn the final military pieces are in place for a major Russian operation to topple Kyiv's pro-Wetern government replacing it under Moscow's control.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated "everything else depends" on whether the United States and NATO are willing to negotiate seriously on Russia's demanding non-starters. So far, the U.S. proposal to Russia, he stated, contained "unacceptable statements", and NATO's document offered "rudeness and defiant language".
A new round of last-minute diplomacy saw Britain's foreign minister publicly sparring with Russia's top diplomat in Moscow, during talks. Officials from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France were meeting in Berlin to discuss eastern Ukraine's conflict with its ethnic-Russian Ukrainian separatist insurgency in the Donbas. "The number of Russian forces is going up. The warning time for a possible attack is going down", said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels.
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| Combat crews with the S-400 air-defense system take part in joint exercises by the armed forces of Russia and Belarus near the Ukrainian border. |
Ukraine pointed out that Russian naval exercises made navigation in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov "virtually impossible", leading Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov to urge the international community take tough punitive measures, including imposing port restrictions on Russian ships in retaliation. "Now we expect unified reaction also: when RUS (Russian ships can't enter world's ports, they'll understand the price of their impudence".
Bayraktar drones and anti-tank Javelin and NLAW missiles provided by foreign partners are set to be used by Ukrainian forces, the numbers of which are not revealed.
"Maybe it is the Anglo-Saxons who are preparing something, if they are evacuating their employees?" "We looked at their actions and, probably, we will also advise non-essential personnel of our diplomatic institutions to go home for a while.""I don't know what our Anglo-Saxon colleagues are plotting."Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
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| Russian soldiers take part in the Belarusian and Russian joint military drills at Brestsky firing range in Belarus last week. Photograph: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP |
Labels: Belarus, Britain, NATO, Russia, Ukraine, United States, War Games, Word Games
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, February 12, 2022
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