Russia Ukraine Conflict Feb 16 Highlights: US Secretary of State Blinken says US sees no sign of Russian pullback

NATO member countries on Wednesday examined new ways to bolster the defences of nations on the organisation's eastern flank as Russia's military buildup around Ukraine fuels one of Europe's biggest security crises in decades.

Over two days at NATO headquarters in Brussels, defense ministers were to discuss how and when to rapidly dispatch troops and equipment to countries closest to Russia and the Black Sea region should Moscow order an invasion of Ukraine.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his counterparts also plan to weigh the possibility of stationing troops longer-term in southeast Europe, possibly starting later this year. The troops would mirror the presence of some 5,000 service members that have been stationed in allies Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on a rotating basis in recent years.

The US has started to deploy 5,000 troops to Poland and Romania. Britain is sending hundreds of soldiers to Poland and offering more warships and planes. Germany, the Netherlands and Norway are sending additional troops to Lithuania. Denmark and Spain are providing jets for air policing.

“The fact that we have deployed more NATO troops on the ground, more naval assets, more aircraft, all of that sends a very clear message,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. “I think there is no room for any miscalculation in Moscow about our commitment to defending allies.” The deployment has come in response to a formidable challenge.

Over the last four months, Russia is estimated to have amassed around 60% of its entire land forces and a significant portion of its air force to the north and east of Ukraine, as well as in neighbouring Belarus. Moscow has appeared ready to repeat its 2014 invasion of Ukraine, but on a grander scale.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants NATO, the world's biggest security organization, to stop expanding. He demands that the US-led alliance pull its troops and equipment out of countries that joined after 1997 – almost half of NATO's 30-strong ranks.

NATO cannot accept his terms. It's founding treaty commits to an “Open Door” policy for European countries that want to join, and a mutual defence clause guarantees that all members will come to the defence of an ally under threat.

Ukraine, though, is not a member and NATO, as an organisation, is not willing to come to its defence. (AP)

“Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.” That's how a top Russian diplomat brushed off speculation in the West that Russia could invade neighboring Ukraine as soon as Wednesday, Feb. 16.

As the U.S. and other NATO members warn of the potential for a devastating war, Russia is not countering with bombs or olive branches -- but with sarcasm.

It's a tool that officials in Moscow have long used to belittle their rivals and to deflect attention from actions seen as threatening to the West or Russia's neighbors. Laconic quips dovetail with the Kremlin's domestic agenda by making Russia and its all-powerful president look more cool-headed and clever than countries in the panicky, democratic West.

As worries mushroomed that Wednesday could be the day President Vladimir Putin launches an invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials ridiculed them.

In a Facebook post, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked the “mass media of disinformation” in the West “to reveal the schedule of our invasions' for the upcoming year. I'd like to plan my vacations.” Ukrainians have lived amid signs of a possible invasion for several weeks, with an estimated 150,000 Russian troops surrounding much of their country for military exercises. Russia said this week it was starting to pull back some troops, but Western military officials say there's no evidence of a serious withdrawal.

Russia's ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, accused Westerners of “slander” for alleging an invasion was afoot. He insisted in an interview with German daily newspaper Welt that “there won't be an attack this Wednesday.” Then Chizhov added: “Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.'” The statement seemed more flippant than historically significant. World War I started on a Tuesday and World War II started in Europe on a Friday, but Europe's history of war over centuries includes conflicts that kicked off throughout the week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also took the West's growing fears lightly. Asked Wednesday whether Russia's presidential administration operated differently overnight, he told reporters that everyone slept calmly and resumed work in the morning as usual.

“Western hysteria is still far from its culmination,” Peskov said. "We need to have patience, as the remission will not come quickly.” The master of Russian diplomatic snark is Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He is known worldwide for his quips – often said in English -- over 18 years as the Kremlin's top diplomat.

On Wednesday, Lavrov mocked the West as sadly "lacking basic upbringing” for trying to dictate or predict Russia's plans.

Beneath the sarcasm, Russia has narrated the current Ukraine crisis from the outset: first by moving troops toward Ukraine, then by periodically holding out the possibility of a diplomatic solution, keeping foreign officials and markets on constant edge.

While Putin offered more talks this week, his intentions in Ukraine remain unclear. Western intelligence suggests an invasion of some kind could still happen – on a future Wednesday or any day of the week. (AP)

Russia said more of its forces surrounding Ukraine were withdrawing on Wednesday but NATO said the troop buildup was continuing, questioning Moscow's stated willingness to negotiate a solution to the crisis.

In Ukraine, where people raised flags and played the national anthem to show unity against fears of an invasion, the government said a cyber attack that hit the defence ministry was the worst of its kind that the country had seen. It pointed the finger towards Russia, which denied involvement.

The Russian defence ministry said its forces were pulling back after exercises in the southern and western military districts near Ukraine - part of a huge Russian build-up that was accompanied by demands for sweeping security guarantees from the United States and NATO.

It published video that it said showed tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery units leaving the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

But a senior Western intelligence official said Russian military exercises were at their peak and the risk of Russian aggression against Ukraine would remain high for the rest of February.

"There are no credible signs at this point that there will be any kind of military de-escalation," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that Russia could still attack Ukraine "with essentially no, or little-to-no, warning".

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said a pullout would be welcome but that moving troops and tanks back and forth did not amount to proof it was really happening.

"We have not seen any withdrawal of Russian forces. And of course, that contradicts the message of diplomatic efforts," Soltenberg said before a meeting of the alliance in Brussels. "What we see is that they have increased the number of troops and more troops are on their way. So, so far, no de-escalation."

The Kremlin said NATO's assessment was wrong. Moscow's ambassador to Ireland said forces in western Russia would be back to their normal positions within three to four weeks.

World stockmarkets crept higher for the second day in a row and Russian shares and the rouble gained ground as investors welcomed the apparent easing in tension, despite the Western scepticism.

Russia says it never planned to attack Ukraine but wants to lay down "red lines" to prevent its neighbour from joining NATO, which it sees as a threat to its own security. (Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said Russia has been moving critical units closer to Ukraine's border and that the United States has so far not seen any pullback of Moscow's forces in the area.

"There's what Russia says. And then there's what Russia does. And we haven't seen any pullback of its forces," Blinken said in an interview on MSNBC. "We continue to see critical units moving toward the border, not away from the border." (Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken on Wednesday criticized the vote by Russia's lower house of parliament asking President Vladimir Putin to recognize two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent, calling it illegal.

Enactment of the resolution would undermine Ukraine's sovereignty, violate international law, call into question Russia's stated commitment to continue to engage in diplomacy and "necessitate a swift and firm response from the United States in full coordination with our Allies and partners," Blinken said in a statement. (Reuters)

Australia's prime minister on Tuesday urged China to denounce Russian threats against Ukraine, as the crisis between the US-led allies and Moscow raises the specter of a broader conflict.

Scott Morrison noted that Beijing and Moscow had announced they were pursuing closer relations since more than 100,000 Russian troops were sent to the Ukrainian border.

“We would expect all nations, all governments around the world, to be denouncing what is taking place with the threats of violence against Ukraine,” Morrison told Parliament.

“I do note that the Chinese government, together with the Russian government, have been banding together on this issue and that the Chinese government has not denounced what is occurring in Ukraine,” he said.

He called on all federal lawmakers to join the Australian government in “urging the Chinese government to denounce those actions and to allow an appropriate response through the United Nations rather than resisting that being done” through its membership of the UN Security Council.

Morrison's criticisms of China will further strain a tattered bilateral relationship between Australia and its most important trading partner.

Australia has suffered trade retaliation in recent years after angering Beijing with actions that include outlawing covert foreign interference in domestic politics, banning Chinese tech giant Huawei from major infrastructure projects and demanding an independent investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP)