Photo: AP Photo/Mindaugas KulbisBidding on dates for the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues in the West. The impression that consumers of Western media get is that it is no longer a question of if, but when Russia will attack. It refers to Wednesday February 16, or some day before the end of the Olympics in Beijing on February 20, or already sometime. They say from Moscow that the American and British colleagues seem to know something, which the Russians do not
According to information from the German magazine "Spiegel", both the CIA and the US Army informed the German Federal Government and other NATO countries on Friday that, based on operational data, they fear that the Russian offensive on Ukraine will begin on Wednesday, February 16. The secret documents describe the specific routes of individual Russian units and list their alleged tasks.
In Berlin, it was not possible to find out what this alarming warning from the United States of America is based on, but it is said that many sources are mentioned in the document. With a lot of speculation about anything and everything, the only thing that was not stated once was what would be Russia's motive for launching an invasion of Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, did not comment on the allegations that a Russian invasion is expected on Wednesday at a press conference in the White House. But he said that Russia could attack Ukraine at any moment, even before the end of the Beijing Olympics on February 20, and that the attack would probably be launched "with missiles and from the air" in which "civilians could be killed."
"We are not saying that President Putin made the final decision," Sullivan defended himself.
In a telephone conference on Friday, Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other Western heads of state and government agreed on what to do in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. There was mostly talk about various forms of economic sanctions. Biden spoke about the "unequivocal possibility" of a Russian invasion, so he announced the deployment of an additional 3000 American soldiers to Poland.
Evacuation from Ukraine
On Friday, the US president called on American citizens to leave Ukraine within "24 to 48 hours". At the same time, he said that after a possible Russian invasion, America will not take actions to save Americans and "risk the Third World War".
Norway, Canada, Israel, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia have also called on their citizens to leave Ukraine.
The German Federal Government, however, saw no concrete reason to call on the Germans to leave Ukraine. The situation is being closely monitored so that, if necessary, we can act quickly, announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chancellor Scholz, despite the dramatic American warnings about the imminent danger of war, which were leaked to the German media, plans to travel to Kiev on Monday, and to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Vladimir Putin. He routinely warned that any military aggression would have consequences, and that talks must be continued in order to preserve peace in Europe.
The West knows something that Moscow does not
From the moves of Western countries to evacuate their diplomats, Russia "concluded that American and British colleagues obviously know something about some kind of military actions being prepared in Ukraine, which could significantly complicate the security situation," said the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova.
She also talked about the "hysteria in the White House", about the fact that "the Anglo-Saxons need war at any cost", and that "provocations, fake news and threats are the favorite methods (of the West) to solve their own problems".
Russia will withdraw part of its employees from diplomatic missions in Ukraine due to "fear of possible provocations by the Kiev regime or third parties", but the Russian embassy in Ukraine and consular missions will continue to work.
After a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the Russian agency TASS reported the statement of the Russian MFA that the US and NATO continue to ignore Russia's proposals on security guarantees that are essential for Moscow, primarily the provisions that that the Alliance will not expand further to the east and that NATO strike weapons will not be deployed near the Russian borders.
The phone conversation between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin was announced for Saturday, February 12.
JH/Spiegel/NZZ/Washington Post/New York Times
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