প্রকাশ: 06/02/2022
Russia on Saturday sent a pair of long-range nuclear-capable
bombers on patrol over its ally Belarus amid spiraling tensions over Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the two Tu-22M3 bombers
practiced interacting with the Belarusian air force and air defense during a
four-hour mission. The flight followed several similar patrols over Belarus,
which borders Ukraine to the north.
The mission came as the Kremlin has moved troops from
Siberia and the Far East to Belarus for sweeping joint drills. The deployment
added to the Russian military buildup near Ukraine, fueling Western fears of a
possible invasion.
Russia has denied any plans of attacking Ukraine, but urged
the US and its allies to provide a binding pledge that they won't accept
Ukraine into NATO, won't deploy offensive weapons, and will roll back NATO
deployments to Eastern Europe. Washington and NATO have rejected the demands.
The West has called on Russia to pull back an estimated
100,000 troops from areas near Ukraine, but the Kremlin has responded by saying
it will station troops wherever it needs to on Russian territory. As the
tensions over Ukraine soared, the Russian military has launched a series of war
games spreading from the Arctic to the Black Sea.
The Russian troop deployment to Belarus raised concerns in
the West that Moscow could stage an attack on Ukraine from the north. The
Ukrainian capital of Kyiv is just 75 kilometers (50 miles) from the Belarus
border.
In recent months, Russia has conducted a series of joint
drills with Belarus and repeatedly sent its nuclear-capable long-range bombers
to patrol over Belarus, which borders NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who has
increasingly relied on the Kremlin's political and financial support amid
bruising Western sanctions triggered by his crackdown on domestic protests, has
called for closer defense ties with Moscow and recently offered to host Russian
nuclear weapons.
In an interview with a Russian state TV host aired Saturday,
Lukashenko charged that the Russian-led security alliance demonstrated its
quick deployment capability when its members briefly sent forces last month to
Kazakhstan to help stabilize the situation after deadly riots.
" While they (NATO) will be still getting prepared to
send some troops here, we will already stand at the English Channel, and they
know it," he said in a reference to Western allies.
The Belarusian leader downplayed the threat of war, but
added that if it still erupts "it will last for three or four days at
most."
"There is no one there to fight us," he said about
Ukraine.
On Saturday, the German newspaper Bild published a report
alleging that Russia is poised to attack Ukraine from several directions,
capture major cities and install a puppet government. Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Maria Zakharova angrily dismissed the allegations.
As war fears mounted, Ukrainian authorities launched a
series of civil defense drills for residents.
"I am here to learn how to defend myself, defend my
relatives and also understand how to act in the situation," Kyiv resident
Ilya Goncharov said after taking part in drills on the outskirts of the
Ukrainian capital. "I am happy that I came here to learn the basics of self-defense
and first aid."
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city just 25 kilometers
(15 miles) south of the Russian border, thousands of people took to the streets
Saturday carrying giant yellow-and-blue banners in the colors of the national
flag in a show of determination to protect the city.
"We want to show that there are people in Kharkiv who
are ready to defend it and fight back," said marcher Svitlana Galashko.
Amid the standoff over Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has
ordered 2,000 US-based troops to Poland and Germany and shifted 1,000 more from
Germany to Romania in a show of the US commitment to NATO's eastern flank.
Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin has
signaled Moscow's readiness for more talks with Washington and its NATO allies.
As part of high-level diplomacy to ease the tensions, French President Emmanuel
Macron is set to head to Moscow and Kyiv on Monday and Tuesday, while German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Kyiv and Moscow on Feb. 14-15.
On Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a call
with Macron and "they agreed that finding a diplomatic solution to the
current tensions must remain the overriding priority."
Johnson's office said he and the French president "also
stressed that NATO must be united in the face of Russian aggression" and
"agreed to continue to work together to develop a package of sanctions
which would come into force immediately should Russia further invade
Ukraine."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also spoke Saturday
with European Council President Charles Michel, saying on Twitter that the
tensions around Ukraine's situation must be de-esclated.
In 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula after
Ukraine's Moscow-friendly leader fled the country. Russia also threw its weight
behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where over 14,000 have been
killed in fighting.
Amid the tensions with the West, Putin on Friday attended
the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing and met with China's leader Xi
Jinping to strengthen the two countries' alliance. In a joint statement, Putin
and Xi declared their opposition to any expansion of NATO while affirming that
the island of Taiwan is a part of China.
Putin and Xi announced that the relations between Moscow and
Beijing are "superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War
era" and their friendship "has no limits."
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