Putin toughens Russia’s stance as talks rumble on: Live news | Ukraine-Russia crisis News
In his first comments on the Ukraine crisis in more than a month, Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of trying to provoke Moscow into a war.
His tough remarks on Tuesday, which came amid a burst of diplomacy aimed at lowering the temperature, dampen any hopes that tensions will soon ease.
Putin, speaking as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Moscow, also reiterated Russia’s security demands and said it was clear that the Kremlin’s “fundamental concerns” had been ignored by Washington and NATO.
Boris Johnson, who met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Tuesday, will speak to Putin by phone on Wednesday. But in a sign of Moscow’s growing frustration, before the call with the British prime minister, the Kremlin said Russia was ready to talk with the “utterly confused”.
Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte became the latest NATO leader to visit Kyiv in a show of solidarity with Ukraine.
Here are the latest updates:
Timeline: Ukraine’s turbulent history since independence in 1991
Ukraine has faced significant challenges in the decades that have followed its independence from Moscow.
For a timeline of developments, click here.
French FM casts doubt on Russian military readiness
There are no indications at this stage to suggest that Russia is ready to take military action in Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said.
Le Drian’s remarks to France 2 Television come after Zelenskyy last week urged the West not to create “panic” over Russia’s military buildup.
Zelenskyy told reporters the “destabilisation of the situation inside the country” was the biggest threat to Ukraine and said that warnings of an imminent invasion were putting its economy at risk.
Sweden boosts Ukraine aid
Sweden says it will give Ukraine an extra 50 million Swedish crowns ($5.4m) of aid over three years to support economic development, dialogue and general resilience in the country’s south and east.
The money, which is an addition to the 240 million crowns ($26m) Ukraine already receives annually from Sweden for the reform of civil society, will go into the Partnership Fund for Resilient Ukraine, launched with the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States.
“This fund is going to contribute to strengthen Ukraine’s resilience,” Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in a statement. “It will be able to answer quickly and flexibly the needs that develop and which have materialised as a result of Russian aggression since 2014.”
Kyiv mayor Klitschko pledges to ‘defend’ city if Russia invades
Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko, a former world heavyweight champion boxer, has said he will “defend” the city should Russia invade Ukraine.
“We have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. We hope it does not happen,” Klitschko told reporters. “But if aggressors come to our country we don’t have any choice, we have to defend our city, our country, our future.”
Russian civil society figures pen open letter denouncing ‘party of war’
A group of more than 100 prominent Russian activists, authors and academics have signed an open letter decrying the “party of war” in Russia’s government.
The letter, published on the website of the independent radio station Echo of Moscow, did not specifically name any party but warned that Russia “does not need a war with Ukraine and the West”.
It said that “nobody” was threatening or attacking the country and accused state-run media of bias towards a belligerent point-of-view. The letter added that the idea of a conflict was “immoral, irresponsible, and criminal, and cannot be implemented on behalf of Russia’s peoples”.
United Russia, which is pro-Putin, is the largest party in Russia. The Russian president helped found the party but is not a member.
Kremlin says Putin ready to talk with the ‘utterly confused’ before Johnson call
The Kremlin says Putin is ready to talk to anyone, including the “utterly confused”, before a scheduled call between the Russian leader and the United Kingdom’s Johnson.
The British PM on Tuesday accused Moscow of holding a gun to Kyiv’s head in a bid to bully the West into redrawing the post-Cold War security map of Europe.
UK diplomacy ‘worthless’: Russian official
A senior Russian official at the United Nations has slammed British diplomacy, branding it “absolutely worthless” as tensions between Russia and the West rise.
“There is always room for diplomacy, but frankly, we don’t trust British diplomacy,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, Moscow’s deputy ambassador to the UN, told Sky News in an interview.
His remarks came hours before Johnson was scheduled to have a call with Putin. On Tuesday, the UK leader said his government has a package of measures, including sanctions, ready to go “the moment the first Russian toecap crosses further into Ukrainian territory”.
US, Turkish advisers discuss ‘Russian aggression’
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Ibrahim Kalin, chief adviser to the president of Turkey, have discussed their commitment to “deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine”, the White House says in a statement.
Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber said Kalin told Sullivan that Turkey would provide “all forms of support” to resolving the Ukraine crisis and that Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Kyiv on Thursday would “contribute to solving the issue with diplomacy”.
Ankara offered in November to mediate in the crisis. Turkey is a maritime neighbour of both Ukraine and Russia, in the Black Sea, and has good ties with both. It has called on them to avoid any military conflict and warned Russia that an invasion of Ukraine would be unwise.
Russian rouble nears two-week high vs the dollar
The rouble has strengthened to a nearly two-week high, moving close to 76 against the dollar.
The Russian currency is moving away from a near 15-month low of 80.4125 versus the greenback hit last week when it was battered by the tensions over Ukraine and Western threats to impose new sanctions on Moscow if it makes an incursion.
By 09:41 GMT, the rouble was 0.6 percent stronger against the dollar at 76.32, having earlier touched 76.25, its strongest point since January 20. Meanwhile, it had gained 0.4 percent versus the euro at 86.09, nearly its strongest level in three weeks.
Yamal-Europe Russian gas link at a halt
Natural gas supplies between Poland and Germany via the Russian Yamal-Europe pipeline have come to a halt, data from the German network operator Gascade shows, dashing expectations it was about to pump gas west for the first time since December.
The Yamal pipeline, which typically flows west into Germany, has been in reverse mode in recent weeks with supplies flowing east to Poland since December 21.
It was expected to revert to its normal mode of exporting west after Gazprom booked transit capacity for eight hours, starting from 21:00 GMT on Tuesday.
But Gascade’s website showed the pipeline was at a standstill in both directions after about an hour of western flows earlier on Wednesday. Gas prices rose in response.
The European Union depends on Russia for about one-third of its gas supplies [File: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg]/news/2022/2/2/timeline-ukraines-turbulent-history-since-independence-in-1991
