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Western leaders form a united front as Russia begins nuclear exercises


Western leaders warn Russia not to consider transforming a country’s national borders by force, stressing that Moscow will pay a heavy economic and political price for any intervention any military entry into Ukraine.

US Vice President Kamala Harris said the US would strengthen NATO’s eastern flank to act as a further deterrent to any Russian military action beyond the threat of sanctions.

“State borders should not be changed by force,” Harris said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

“We have prepared swift, strict and unified economic measures,” she said. “We will target financial institutions and key Russian industries.”

Security officials have warned that Russia has forces ready to invade Ukraine at any moment and said Moscow may be looking to create an excuse to invade with so-called false flag operations.

On Saturday, Russia opened an investigation into Russian media reports that a Ukrainian shell exploded in Russia’s Rostov region, about 1 km (0.6 miles) from the border. .

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko observe a ballistic missile launch exercise within the framework of the strategic deterrent force exercises, in Moscow, Russia February 19, 2022.

SPUTNIK | via REUTERS

On Saturday, Russia also began strategic nuclear exercises involving the launch of ballistic missiles, which it said were not related to deployments along the Ukrainian border.

The Kremlin said Russia hit targets at sea and on land on Saturday as part of strategic nuclear exercises overseen by President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart.

The annual drills include the launches of Kinzhal and Tsirkon hypersonic missiles and other weapons, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Diplomatic

Leaders at the Munich conference said they wanted to continue dialogue with Russia, with German Chancellor Scholz saying there are clear signs that Russia remains open to diplomacy.

They got some support from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who has close ties to Russia, when he told the conference that no country should seek to replace international norms under the my reviews.

He said no country should be obsessed with turning the wheel of history.

Scholz of Germany argued that the Russian President was wrong to seek justification for the revision of historical borders.

“If you go back far enough in history, you can find the basis for wars that lasted several hundred years and destroyed our entire continent,” Scholz said at the conference.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he had sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asking for more talks to defuse the Ukraine crisis but warned Moscow of the risk of making impossible demands on security. security.

He also told the conference that there was no sign of Russia withdrawing troops from Ukraine’s border – despite Russia’s assertion this week that it had begun withdrawing.

“We are extremely concerned because we see that they continue to build, they continue to prepare. And we have never seen in Europe since the end of the Cold War a military force,” he said. such a large concentrated battle-ready team”.

In a rare admission of the limits of diplomacy, Stoltenberg also said Moscow was making security demands that the Kremlin knew NATO could never meet.

“Russia has made Ukraine possible for NATO membership, which is a paradox because there is no decision on this issue on the agenda,” Scholz said. “We will make a clear distinction between unenforceable claims and legitimate security interests.”

In its confrontation with Ukraine, Russia has sent tens of thousands of troops near the border with its neighbor while insisting that the country has no plans to invade.

President Putin is pushing for security demands, including banning Ukraine from joining NATO. NATO has said that, under UN treaties, every country is free to choose its alliance.



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