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MOSCOW/KYIV/DONETSK. — Russia will extend military drills in Belarus that were due to end yesterday, the Belarusian defence ministry announced, in a step US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said made him more worried about an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The defence ministry said the decision was taken because of military activity near the borders of Russia and Belarus as well as the situation in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region.
Sporadic shelling across the line dividing Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists in that region increased sharply last week and continued on Sunday.
Speaking to CNN, Blinken said that while all signs suggested Russia was on the brink of invading, the United States and its allies would use every diplomatic opportunity to dissuade the Kremlin.
Russia has repeatedly denied any plan to attack, and accuses the West of whipping up fears of war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, agreed in a phone call on the need for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine, both governments said.
A French presidential adviser said the two agreed that a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), with representatives from Ukraine and Russia, be held today.
Poland, currently the OSCE chair, earlier said that at Ukraine’s request it was convening an extraordinary session of the council, which is dedicated to preventing armed conflict, today.
Belarus did not say how long Russian troops in Belarus — estimated by NATO to number 30 000 — might now remain in the country, which lies north of Ukraine. Belarus Defence Minister, Viktor Khrenin, said the focus of the extended exercises was “to ensure an adequate response and de-escalation of military preparations of ill-wishers near our common borders”.
The Kremlin did not comment on the Belarus drills. The Macron adviser said that Putin had reiterated that the troops would leave Belarus after the exercises.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the repeated warnings by the West that Russia was about to invade were provocative and could have adverse consequences, which he did not spell out. Russia says the West has raised tensions by sending NATO reinforcements to eastern Europe during the crisis. — Reuters.
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