The Rising Nepal
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Ukraine tensions: West skeptical of Russian overtures

For the second day Tuesday, there were signs of hope that Europe might avoid war following weeks of escalating East-West tensions as Moscow massed around 150,000 troops on three sides of Ukraine and held massive military drills. Those moves led to dire warnings from Washington, London and other European capitals that Russia was preparing to roll into Ukraine.

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Ukraine tensions flare at G-20 finance meetings

Tensions over Russia’s war on Ukraine flared Friday at meetings of financial chiefs of the Group of 20.

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Russian FM urges more talks with West amid Ukraine tensions

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Ukraine tensions: Joe Biden says US citizens should leave Ukraine now

FEB 11: Mr Biden said he would not send troops to rescue Americans if Moscow invades Ukraine. He warned that "things could go crazy quickly" in the region. Russia has repeatedly denied any plans to invade Ukraine despite massing more than 100,000 troops at the border. But it has just begun massive military drills with neighbouring Belarus, and Ukraine has accused Russia of blocking its access to the sea. The Kremlin says it wants to enforce "red lines" to make sure that its former Soviet neighbour does not join Nato. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that Europe faced its biggest security crisis in decades amid the tensions. The US State Department urged Americans in Ukraine to leave immediately. "American citizens should leave now," Mr Biden told NBC News. "We're dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It's a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly." Asked whether there was a scenario that could prompt him to send troops to rescue fleeing Americans, Mr Biden replied: "There's not. That's a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another. We're in a very different world than we've ever been." World leaders, meanwhile, continued their frenzied diplomacy to defuse the current crisis over Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine announced late on Thursday that they had failed to reach any breakthrough in a day of talks with French and German officials aimed at ending the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. The current tensions come eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula. Since then, Ukraine's military has been locked in a war with Russian-backed rebels in eastern areas near Russia's borders. Earlier, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he hoped "strong deterrence" and "patient diplomacy" could find a way through the crisis but the stakes were "very high". In a joint news conference in Brussels with Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, Mr Johnson said he did not believe Russia had yet taken a decision on whether to invade Ukraine but the UK's intelligence "remains grim". Asked whether the UK would consider going further in its support for Ukraine, including military support for an insurgency if Russia invades, Mr Johnson said he would "consider what more we can conceivably offer". "It's possible, I don't want to rule this out, but at the moment we think the package is the right one," he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a frosty news conference with his British counterpart Liz Truss that the talks had been "disappointing". He said relations between the UK and Russia "leave much to be desired" and are at the "lowest point over the past few years". Ms Truss accused Russia of "Cold War rhetoric". UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on Friday. Before the trip, Mr Wallace confirmed that the UK was providing more defensive equipment - including body armour, helmets and combat boots - to the Ukrainian government. He also said it was important to show that Nato countries "won't let threats push us around". Meanwhile, Ukraine accused Russia of blocking its access to the sea as Russia prepares for naval exercises. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the Sea of Azov was completely blocked and the Black Sea almost fully cut off by Russian forces. Russia's naval exercises will take place next week in the two seas to the south of Ukraine, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Russia has issued coastal warnings citing missile and gunnery firing exercises. Ukraine's foreign ministry said the "unprecedentedly vast area where the manoeuvres will be conducted makes navigation in both seas practically impossible", and Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted that the international waters of the two seas had been blocked by Russia. The naval exercises off Ukraine's southern flank are in addition to the 10 days of military exercises currently underway in Belarus, to the north of Ukraine. There are fears that if Russia tries to invade Ukraine, the exercises put the Russian military close to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, making an attack on the city easier. Russia says its troops will return to their permanent bases after the drills end. Moscow says it cannot accept that Ukraine - a former Soviet republic with deep social and cultural ties with Russia - could one day join the Western defence alliance Nato and has demanded that this be ruled out. Russia has been backing a bloody armed rebellion in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region since 2014. Some 14,000 people - including many civilians - have died in fighting since then. There is some suggestion that a renewed focus on the so-called Minsk agreements - which sought to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine - could be used as a basis to defuse the current crisis. Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany backed the accords in 2014-2015.

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Ukraine tensions: Russia to begin military drills with Belarus

Feb 10: Nato says the joint drills mark Russia's biggest deployment to ex-Soviet Belarus since the Cold War. The White House called the drills an "escalatory" action in the tensions over Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied any plans to invade Ukraine despite amassing more than 100,000 troops at the border. But some Western countries including the US have warned that a Russian attack could come at any time. In 2014 Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula. Since then there has been a long-running conflict in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists control swathes of territory and at least 14,000 people have been killed. Some 30,000 Russian troops are expected to take part in the drills with Belarus. Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko is a firm ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin backed Mr Lukashenko when huge protests erupted in Belarus in 2020, while most Western countries imposed sanctions and refused to recognise election results widely believed to have been rigged in the long-time leader's favour. A Kremlin spokesman described the joint drills as serious, saying Russia and Belarus were being "confronted with unprecedented threats". Russia's EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov, however, told the BBC that his country still believed diplomacy could help de-escalate the crisis over Ukraine. He said Russian troops currently stationed in Belarus would return to their permanent bases after the exercises. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said: "As we look at the preparation for these military exercises, again, we see this as certainly more an escalatory and not a de-escalatory action." French President Emmanuel Macron said talks on resolving the conflict would be revived as early as Thursday and include Russia and Ukraine along with France and Germany - known as the Normandy quartet. Mr Macron told reporters on Wednesday that Mr Putin had assured him Russian forces would not ramp up the crisis, but Russia said it had given no such guarantee. After two days of intense diplomacy led by Mr Macron, there is some suggestion that a renewed focus on the so-called Minsk agreements - which sought to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine - could be used as a basis to defuse the current crisis. Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany backed the accords in 2014-2015. Some diplomats say the agreements could offer a route to de-escalation, with France's ambassador to the US, Philippe Etienne, tweeting they should be used to "build a viable political solution". UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to travel to Brussels and Warsaw on Thursday in support of Nato allies. Mr Johnson's trip is part of a surge of diplomatic activity, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also due to meet their Russian counterparts in Moscow on Thursday. Ahead of the first visit to Russia by a UK foreign secretary in four years, Ms Truss said she was determined to stand up for freedom and democracy in Ukraine and intended to urge Moscow to pursue a diplomatic solution.

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Russian bombers fly over Belarus amid Ukraine tensions

Russia on Saturday sent a pair of long-range nuclear-capable bombers on patrol over its ally Belarus amid spiraling tensions over Ukraine.

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Russia-Ukraine tensions: Powers clash at UN Security Council

FEB1 : US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the mobilisation was the biggest Europe had seen in decades. Her Russian counterpart accused the US of fomenting hysteria and unacceptable interference in Russia's affairs. The US and UK have promised further sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said legislation was being prepared which would target a wider range than currently of individuals and businesses close to the Kremlin. A US official said Washington's sanctions meant individuals close to the Kremlin would be cut off from the international financial system. At Monday's UN Security Council meeting, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said there was no proof that Russia was planning military action against Ukraine, and that its troop build-up was not confirmed by the UN. He said Russia often deployed troops on its own territory and that this was none of Washington's business. Russia had tried to block the open session of the UN body but was outvoted by 10 votes to two. The Biden administration was "whipping up tensions and rhetoric, and provoking escalation", Mr Nebenzya said. "This isn't just unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of our state, it's also an attempt to mislead the international community about the true situation in the region and the reasons for the current global tensions," he said. Ms Thomas-Greenfield said the US continued to believe there was a diplomatic solution but warned that the US would act decisively if Russia invaded Ukraine, the consequences of which would be "horrific". "This is the largest... mobilisation of troops in Europe in decades," she said. "And as we speak, Russia is sending even more forces and arms to join them." Moscow was planning to increase its force deployed in neighbouring Belarus, on Ukraine's northern border, to 30,000, she added. Meanwhile diplomatic efforts continue, with Mr Putin speaking by phone to French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. Moscow wants the West to promise Ukraine will never join the Nato alliance - in which members promise to come to another's aid in the event of an armed attack - but the US has rejected that demand. Nato's 30 members include the US and UK, as well as Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - former Soviet republics which border Russia. Moscow sees Nato troops in eastern Europe as a direct threat to its security. Mr Putin has long argued the US broke a guarantee it made in 1990 that Nato would not expand further east, though interpretations differ over exactly what was promised. Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula in 2014. It is also backing rebels who seized large swathes of the eastern Donbas region soon afterwards, and some 14,000 people have died in fighting there.

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Russia says it won't start a war as Ukraine tensions mount

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Russia-Ukraine tensions: UK warns of plot to install pro-Moscow ally

JAN 23: The Foreign Office took the unusual step of naming former Ukrainian MP Yevhen Murayev as a potential Kremlin candidate. Russia has moved 100,000 troops near to its border with Ukraine but denies it is planning an invasion. UK ministers have warned that the Russian government will face serious consequences if there is an incursion. In a statement, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "The information being released today shines a light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin thinking. "Russia must de-escalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy. "As the UK and our partners have said repeatedly, any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs." Russia has seized Ukrainian territory before, when it annexed Crimea in 2014, after the country overthrew their pro-Russian president. Western and Ukrainian intelligence services have suggested another invasion or incursion could happen some time in early 2022, after Russian forces amassed on the border. Russia has denied it is planning any attack but President Putin has issued demands to the West, including that Ukraine be prevented from joining the Nato military alliance. He also wants Nato to abandon military exercises and stop sending weapons to eastern Europe, seeing this as a direct threat to Russia's security. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted that the Foreign Office was "circulating disinformation" and urged it to "cease these provocative activities" and "stop spreading nonsense". Mr Murayev, a media owner, lost his seat in the Ukrainian parliament when his party failed to secure 5% of the vote in the 2019 elections. He told the Observer newspaper that the Foreign Office "seems confused". "It isn't very logical. I'm banned from Russia. Not only that but money from my father's firm there has been confiscated," Mr Murayev said. The Foreign Office also named four other Ukrainian politicians who it said maintained links with the Russian intelligence services. It said some of the individuals had been in contact with Russian intelligence officers working on an invasion plan. They include Mykola Azarov, who served as prime minister under the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was overthrown in 2014. Mr Azarov then fled to Russia where he established what was widely seen as a puppet government-in-exile. He has been the subject of international sanctions and an Interpol "red notice" issued at the request of the Ukrainian government, for charges including embezzlement and misappropriation. Also named is Volodymyr Sivkovych, the former deputy head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, who was this week made the subject of US sanctions for allegedly working with Russian intelligence. The others are Serhiy Arbuzov and Andriy Kluyev, who both served as deputy prime minister under Mr Yanukovych. Hours after Russia's foreign minister and his US counterpart held what they called "frank" talks to try to reduce the chance of a wider conflict in Ukraine, a US shipment of "lethal aid" arrived in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Saturday. The delivery, including ammunition for "front line defenders", marked the first part of a $200m (£147.5m) security support package approved by US President Joe Biden in December. Earlier, the chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee warned an invasion could be imminent and said the UK must do more to support Ukraine. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also called on the government to "protect our values and security" by being "steadfast in our opposition to Russian aggression". Dozens of British troops have been in Ukraine since 2015 to help train their armed forces, and the UK has also made a commitment to help rebuild Ukraine's navy following Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014. Earlier this week, the UK announced it was sending defence weapons and extra troops for training. Nato's 30 members - including the UK, US and several former Soviet Union states which share a border with Russia - agree that an armed attack against one is an attack against them all, and they will come to the aid of one another. What does Putin want? Russia's president has long claimed that the US broke a guarantee it made in 1990 that Nato would not expand further east. "They simply deceived us!" he said at a news conference last month. Interpretations differ over what exactly was promised to the then-Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. But it is clear that Mr Putin believes the guarantee was made. Since then, several central and eastern European countries, which used to be part of the Soviet Union or its sphere of influence, have joined Nato. Four of them - Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - have borders with Russia. Russia argues that this expansion, and the presence of Nato troops and military equipment near its borders, is a direct threat to its security. The country seized and annexed the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine in 2014 after Ukrainians overthrew their pro-Russian president. Ever since, Ukraine's military has been locked in a war with Russian-backed rebels in areas of the east near Russia's borders. There are fears that the conflict, which has claimed 14,000 lives and caused at least two million people to flee their homes, may reignite and that Russia's military will cross the border.

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Russia toughens its posture amid Ukraine tensions

Amid fears of an imminent attack on Ukraine, Russia has further upped the ante by announcing more military drills in the region. It also has refused to rule out the possibility of military deployments to the Caribbean, and President Vladimir Putin has reached out to leaders opposed to the West.

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Russia moves more troops westward amid Ukraine tensions

Russia is a sending an unspecified number of troops from the country’s far east to Belarus for major war games, officials said Tuesday

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