Russia slams Western threats on Ukraine as ‘road to nowhere’

US and European threats and ultimatums to Moscow would do nothing to ease tensions over Ukraine, Russia's foreign minister has said.

“Ideological approaches, ultimatums, threats… this is the road to nowhere,” Sergei Lavrov said in a meeting with his British counterpart Liz Truss in Moscow on Thursday, denouncing Western governments’ behavior as “undiplomatic”.

After the meeting, Lavrov addressed Western accusations against Russian military drills, saying that it was the sovereign right of any government to determine the length of military drills it chooses to hold.

The Russian government has started joint drills with Belarus. Lavrov said the exercises are defensive in nature and Russian troops always return to their bases after joint drills.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that Russia was expected to have 30,000 troops in Belarus as well as Spetsnaz special operations forces, SU-35 fighter jets, S-400 air defense systems and nuclear-capable Iskander missiles.

US deploys more troops to Poland as Ukraine downplays speculations of Russian invasion

Another contingent of US troops land in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine as part of efforts to reinforce NATO’s military buildup in eastern Europe.

Ukrainian war game

Ukraine on Thursday launched its own war games that like Russian drills will run until February 20.

Ukrainian forces, whose numbers are still unknown, are set to use Bayraktar drones and anti-tank Javelin and NLAW missiles provided by Western partners. Kyiv was set to receive a further shipment of US armaments later on Thursday.

Russian army shows missile launchers exercise and flies over Belarus

Russian Defence Ministry released on Monday (January 7) video footage of militaries performing anti-missiles systems C-400 tactical exercises in the Leningrad region.

NATO threatens Russia with military build-up

NATO has threatened Russia with economic sanctions and an increased military presence of its forces in the alliance's eastern countries if Russia allegedly invades Ukraine.

In a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Brussels on Thursday, NATO's Stoltenberg said, “Russia has a choice: they can either choose a diplomatic solution - and we're ready to sit down - but if they choose confrontation, they will pay a higher price.”

“There will be economic sanctions. There will be an increased NATO military presence in the eastern part of the alliance, and the UK is really an important part of that,” Stoltenberg said.

Western powers accuse Russia of amassing troops near the Ukrainian border to invade the country. Moscow rejects the allegations and says the deployments are defensive in nature.

Kremlin officials have accused the West of Russiophobia, saying it has no right to lecture Moscow on how to act after its eastward expansion and sowing seeds of chaos and mayhem in Iraq and Syria.

Russia has repeatedly reiterated that the expansion of NATO military infrastructure in Ukraine is a red line for Moscow and that any future expansion must exclude Ukraine and other former Soviet countries.

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