Russia says some troops are withdrawing from Ukraine’s border but drills continue

The announced pullback brought down the total force, which is still estimated to number more than 120,000, amid a new round of shuttle diplomacy aimed at mitigating the crisis. Moscow has warned that there will be unspecified consequences if the US and its allies reject its security demands.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the situation regarding Ukraine, a day after Mr Scholz visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev. The Kremlin said the talks were expected to last for hours.

Ukrainian officials expressed suspicion that Russia was softening the position and it was unclear what signal Moscow wanted to send with its statement on the deployment of troops and other recent moves.

On Monday, during a televised discussion between Mr. Putin and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, Mr. Lavrov said that the West had shown itself to be completely unwilling to accommodate Russian interests, but ended by indicating Said that diplomacy should continue and that “our prospects are far from exhausted.”

Then, on Tuesday, Russia’s parliament voted to ask Putin to recognize the two Russian-backed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine as independent states. Such a move could set the stage for Russia to openly move its armed forces to those areas, but also give Mr Putin cover to reduce its forces around Ukraine.

The country’s head of national security and defense adviser, Oleksey Danilov, downplayed the importance of Russia’s withdrawal announcement, saying troops could be quickly returned to Ukraine’s borders.

“We will have to wait for confirmation from our intelligence community that this is indeed happening,” said Mr. Danilov. “The turning point will be when the Russian Federation realizes that we are a separate state, that we have every right to be one, and stops trying to eliminate us.”

US officials said on Monday that the Russian military presence near Ukraine has grown to 105 battalion tactical groups from 83 groups earlier this month. According to US officials, Russia has also moved about 500 fighter jets within Ukraine’s borders and 40 fighters in the Black Sea.

US officials have said that Russia may attack Ukraine as soon as Wednesday. Russia has said it has no intention of attacking Ukraine.

Tuesday’s announcement prompted a rally after days of declines in US stock futures and European indices. Oil prices fell from an eight-year high on Monday, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, down 2.8%. The threat of war between Ukraine and Russia has, in recent days, added a geopolitical element to the already troubled outlook of investors.

Russia’s foreign ministry has repeatedly criticized Western warnings of a Russian attack on Ukraine, consistently describing it as a US-led propaganda effort aimed at discrediting Russia.

“February 15, 2022 will go down in history as Western propaganda for the war failed,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook. “Disgraced and destroyed without firing a single shot.”

In Ukraine, Mr Zelensky called for calm amid Russian pressure late Monday.

“Today they are scaring Ukraine with a great war and once again setting the date for a military offensive, but our state is stronger than ever,” he said in a video posted on Facebook.

Moscow’s recognition of the two separatist republics as independent would effectively end diplomatic efforts that began in 2015 when a deal known as Minsk-2 would halt most hostilities in Ukraine’s Donbass region. The so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics were created after an armed uprising that began in 2014 and is not recognized by the West.

Russia has recently been increasing pressure on Kiev to abide by the terms of a deal that Ukraine accepted under military pressure. The agreement called for a decentralization of political power in Ukraine and constitutional changes in coordination with rebel governments, a plan that has been rejected by Kiev.

The impact of a possible approval by Mr Putin is not immediately clear. If it recognizes the republics, it may be able to declare that it stands up for Russian interests and that the West has listened to Moscow’s security demands with its military build-up. At the same time, recognition of the republics could give them the opportunity to send weapons and troops to their regions after a written appeal for their help, and potentially attack Ukraine in the name of protecting Russia’s allies while undermining Kiev. Can give an excuse. economic and other means.

Russia has long accused Ukraine of discriminating against Russian speakers in the Donbass.

Several Russian representatives said the vote could give Mr Putin more leverage in his talks on securing security guarantees for Russia and help resolve the crisis surrounding Ukraine in favor of the Kremlin.

Ukraine’s national security official, Mr. Danilov, said recognition of Russian-controlled statelets in Donetsk and Luhansk would not change much on the ground because the regions are already controlled by Moscow, which has distributed Russian passports to its residents. He said that Kiev had no intention of seizing the area by force as it would result in civilian casualties.