Amid heightened tensions with NATO, Moscow has vowed that it will not turn a blind eye to the US-led military bloc’s purported build-up near Belarus, as Russian officials seek responses to their proposed security guarantees.
Speaking as part of an interview with TASS published on Tuesday, Russia’s ambassador to Minsk, Boris Gryzlov, remarked “we see that the build-up of NATO forces and resources, in fact, does not stop at our gates.”
He continued, stating that during the migrant crisis, when thousands of would-be asylum seekers from troubled nations, mainly in the Middle East, attempted to cross over from the former Soviet republic into EU states, additional forces, including heavy weapons were moved to the Belarusian border from Poland.
Gryzlov cautioned that such actions from NATO and its partners “of course, does not go unnoticed.”
He added that the two states take a careful approach to border protection, and that joint Russian-Belarusian air patrols are regularly organized, using “long-range Tu-22M3 bombers, Su-30SM multirole fighters, and others.”
Russia evacuating embassy in Ukraine – media
RT
With tensions rising on the Russian border with Ukraine, Moscow has started to remove its diplomats and their families from its embassy in Kiev and consulate in Lvov, the New York Times has claimed, citing anonymous officials.
In a report published on Monday, the newspaper claimed that 18 people, primarily children and wives of Russian diplomats, left Ukraine on January 5. A further 30 people allegedly left in the two weeks following that, and diplomats from two other Russian consulates (Kharkov and Odessa) had reportedly been told to prepare to leave the country.
In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that “The Russian embassy in Kiev is working normally,” but did not deny any downsizing.
According to the New York Times, officials from both the US and Ukraine confirmed that Russian diplomats had left.
Reports of evacuations come as Moscow is accused by Western nations of a troop build-up on the frontier with Ukraine, allegedly with the intent of invading the country in the coming weeks and months. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any plan to attack and has suggested that NATO is invoking the specter of “Russian aggression” as a pretext to deploy more military equipment in the region.
US Will Provide Ukraine With Even More 'Defensive Material' if Situation Escalates, State Dept Says
Sputnik
Earlier Tuesday, Moscow expressed serious concerns over the "extremely dangerous" statements by officials in the United States and Britain about upping weapons deliveries to the UK to include shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile systems. Doing so would only increase and not reduce tensions, according to the Kremlin.
The United States will provide Ukraine with additional "defensive material" on top of those already scheduled for delivery if the situation in the country escalates into a Russian invasion, a senior State Department official has said.
"As you know, we've given more security assistance to Ukraine in the last year than at any point since 2014, and I can assure you those deliveries are ongoing and more are scheduled in the coming weeks. Should Russia further invade Ukraine, we will provide additional defensive material to the Ukrainians above and beyond that which we are already in the process of providing," the official, who is not at liberty to disclose their name, said Tuesday.
The official's commentary follows on the heels of a warning by a bipartisan group of US lawmakers visiting Kiev on Monday that Washington might send more Javelin anti-tank launchers, small arms, boats, and potentially Stinger portable anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the event of a Russian "invasion."
"We will impose crippling economic sanctions, but more important we will give the people of Ukraine the arms, lethal arms they need to defend their lives and livelihoods," Senator Richard Blumenthal, one of the senators in the US delegation, said.
Kremlin 'Concerned' by 'Extremely Dangerous' Prospect of Delivery of Stingers to Ukraine
Sputnik
"All of this is in line with our concerns in connection to the exploitation of Ukrainian territory by various weapons suppliers, with these weapons often being not just defensive, but offensive in nature. Especially here, [where] Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) were mentioned. The flow of MANPADS is a separate issue regulated by international law," Peskov said, speaking to reporters on Tuesday.
"This is extremely dangerous and does not help reduce tensions," the spokesman added.
Peskov's comments came after a warning from a bipartisan group of US lawmakers Monday that the United States might send Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger anti-air missiles, small arms and boats to Ukraine in the event of a Russian "invasion" of the country.
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