The Kremlin on Sunday (November 21) accused Westerners of inciting tensions around Ukraine, repeatedly making statements suggesting that Russia is preparing to launch attacks on its neighbors, and telling Washington and its allies to stop military build-ups nearby.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Brinken said on Saturday that after Ukraine expressed concern that Russia might be preparing to launch an attack, his country felt genuine concerns about Russia’s activities on the Ukrainian border and shared it extensively with European partners.
U.S., NATO, and Ukrainian officials have been issuing similar statements for the past two weeks, referring to what they call unusual Russian military moves near Ukraine.
The head of Ukrainian military intelligence told the Military Times this weekend that Russia has assembled more than 92,000 soldiers near the Ukrainian border and is preparing to launch an attack in late January or early February.
Kerilo Budanov said such attacks could include air strikes, artillery and armored attacks, then air strikes in the east, amphibious attacks in Odessa and Mariupol, and minor invasions of neighboring Belarus.
Moscow considers such proposals to be inflammatory and complains about the NATO alliance’s claims of increasing activities in the region.
In a comment scheduled to be broadcast on national television later on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that given all the US remarks, “provocations” in the region cannot be ruled out.
“This kind of hysteria is artificially incited. Those who have transferred armed forces from across the ocean accuse us of some unusual military activity on our territory. That is, the United States of America,” Peskov said.
“It’s neither logical nor polite.”
Peskov hinted that Ukraine may be looking for a way to solve its own problems through force.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and in the same year, separatists backed by Russia occupied large areas of eastern Ukraine.
Peskov said that Russia hopes that NATO will stop “concentrating military fists” near Russia’s own borders and stop arming Ukraine with modern weapons.
The Kremlin said in September that if NATO expands its military infrastructure in Ukraine, it will cross Russia’s red line.
On Saturday, a vessel carrying two modified former U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats passed through the Dardanelles Strait in an effort to strengthen the strength of the Ukrainian navy.
Ukraine, struggling to become a NATO member, received a large number of American ammunition and Javelin anti-tank missiles earlier this year, which triggered criticism from Moscow.
