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Ukraine Crisis Update- Russia Responds to the US to deescalate the crisis
The Russian government has responded in writing to a US proposal aimed at de-escalating the Ukraine situation, according to three Biden administration officials. The officials talked on the condition that there be anonymity of whatever they talk about. The Russian retaliation comes as the Biden administration continues to encourage Russia to de-escalate a deteriorating situation on the Ukraine border, where 100,000 Russian troops have gathered.
A State Department official said the response would be "useless to negotiate in public" and that they would leave it up to Russia to reveal their counterproposal. On Monday, Russia accused the West of "inflaming tensions" over Ukraine, claiming that the US had installed "pure Nazis" in Kyiv, as the UN Security Council debated Moscow's army deployment near its southern neighbor. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield retorted that Russia's expanding military force of over 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders was "the greatest mobilization" in Europe in decades and that cyberattacks and Russian disinformation have increased.
After Moscow failed to veto the meeting, tense talks in the Security Council erupted, underlining the divide that remains between the two nuclear powers. Despite the fact that the UN's most powerful council did nothing, it was the first open session in which all parties involved in the Ukraine war spoke publicly. Despite the fact that more high-level diplomacy is planned this week, US-Russian talks have so far failed to calm the crisis, with the West accusing Moscow of planning an invasion. Russia has denied that it intends to attack. It seeks guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO, a halt to NATO military deployment near Russian borders, and a withdrawal of NATO soldiers from Eastern Europe. Those are what NATO and the US refer to as nonstarters.
According to Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, the Biden administration is "whipping up tensions and rhetoric and encouraging escalation."
"You're almost pulling for this," he said to Thomas-Greenfield. The narrator states, "You want it to happen." As though you want your statements to come true, you're waiting for something to happen." He blamed the United States for the ousting of a Kremlin-friendly president in Kyiv in 2014, claiming that it installed "nationalists, extremists, Russophobes, and genuine Nazis" in power, fueling the animosity between Ukraine and Russia.
By a vote of 10-2, the request to hold an open meeting was adopted, with Russia and China voting no and India, Gabon, and Kenya abstaining. A total of nine "yes" votes were required for the meeting to proceed.
"What is desperately needed now is quiet diplomacy, not megaphone diplomacy," said China's Ambassador Zhang Jun, who voted against the public meeting.
According to Johnson's office, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will fly to Ukraine on Tuesday to meet with Zelenskyy and speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge him to "take a step back." As a show of force, Johnson has said that he is considering sending hundreds of British troops to NATO countries in the Baltic region. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez said on Sunday that if Russia is attacked, Democrats want "the mother of all sanctions" applied. This includes actions against Russian banks that have the potential to severely hamper the Russian economy, as well as expanded lethal aid to Ukraine's military.
The administration is encouraged by Congress's bipartisan commitment "to hold Russia accountable," according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The administration has previously voiced concern that preemptive penalties would weaken their clout over Russia, but the White House appears to be warming to the notion as the Foreign Relations Committee prepares to act.
