MOSCOW/BRUSSELS (RUSSIA/BELGIUM) – Russia and Ukraine conduct simultaneous military drills on Wednesday as NATO foreign and defence ministers initiates emergency discussions with regard to Russian troops near the Ukrainian border.
Washington and NATO have been taken aback by the large build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine and in Crimea, and two US warships are likely to arrive in the Black Sea this week.
Russia, which said the US naval move was an unfriendly provocation and alerted Washington to keep a distance from Crimea and its Black Sea coast, says the build-up is a three-week snap military drill for the purpose of combating readiness against what it calls threatening behaviour from NATO. It has said the exercise is likely to wind up within two weeks.
In Ukraine, armed forces held a rehearsal of repelling a tank and infantry attack near the border of Russian-annexed Crimea. On the other hand. its defence minister, Andrii Taran, told European parliamentarians in Brussels that Russia was gearing up to potentially store nuclear weapons in Crimea.
Taran did not give evidence for his assertion but said Russia was massing 110,000 troops on Ukraine’s border in 56 battalion-sized tactical groups, highlighting Kyiv’s latest intelligence.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who conducted talks in Brussels with Stoltenberg before a video conference of all 30 NATO allies, said the alliance would “address Russia’s aggressive actions in and around Ukraine”, without elaborating.
Russia’s relations with the United States saw a dip, owing to a new post-Cold War low last month after US President Joe Biden said he thought Vladimir Putin was a “killer”.
NATO has refuted a claim by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that the alliance was deploying 40,000 troops and 15,000 pieces of military equipment near Russia’s borders, especially in the Black Sea and the Baltic regions.