(Updated with Franco-Russian meeting in Paris, §11-12-13)
par Dmitry Antonov, John Irish et Robin Emmott
MOSCOW / PARIS, Nov. 12 (Reuters) – The United States has expressed concerns to its European allies over potentially suspicious Russian troop movements on the Ukrainian border, which could suggest preparations for a possible offensive, said Friday four diplomats on Reuters.
Russia categorically denied such a scenario and accused the United States of aggressive maneuvers in the Black Sea area.
According to European diplomats interviewed by Reuters, US officials raised the threat of an attack on Ukraine during a meeting in Brussels with European counterparts. Two of them said the comments were made on Wednesday at a meeting of ambassadors to the Atlantic Alliance.
They did not give more details on the American argument, nor on the data put forward to support their concerns.
Another diplomatic source told Reuters that Karen Donfried, Deputy Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, recounted her recent trip to Moscow and underlined her concern over events on the eastern border of Ukraine at a meeting of the Council of Ukraine. the North Atlantic, NATO’s main political decision-making body, last week.
The Washington Post had reported on October 30 movements of Russian troops and equipment considered worrying by Americans and Europeans. Bloomberg had reported Thursday of American fears on this subject.
“Such headlines do nothing more than fuel tensions unnecessarily and without basis. Russia is not threatening anyone,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call on Friday.
He recalled that Russia was the sole decision maker in the deployment of its troops on its own territory.
“We have repeatedly said that the movements of our troops within our borders should not cause concern,” he said.
EXERCISE OR ATTEMPTED AT INCURSION?
In Brussels, a spokesperson for the European Commission said at a press briefing on Friday that Europeans continued to monitor developments, adding that the information gathered so far was “rather worrying”.
In Paris, the French Ministers of the Armed Forces and of Foreign Affairs, Florence Parly and Jean-Yves Le Drian, asked their Russian counterparts Sergei Choïgou and Sergey Lavrov to “reinvest themselves in the Normandy format negotiations by accepting the holding of a Ministerial N4 soon, in accordance with President Putin’s commitment, “reports a statement from their ministries.
They reminded Russia of its commitments “made within the framework of the OSCE, on transparency on military movements and activities and on the full implementation of the confidence and security measures provided for in this framework.”
A “clear warning,” the statement said, “on the serious consequences of any further possible attack on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday that it detected six flights of NATO spy planes in the airspace above the Black Sea, in what it describes as an intensification of the aerial reconnaissance by Western forces.
The Russian military also said it was tracking the movements of US Navy ships in the Black Sea.
“We consider the aggressive military activity of the United States in the Black Sea region as a threat to regional security and strategic stability,” she said in a statement.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and now claims ownership of the territorial waters bathing this peninsula still recognized as Ukrainian by most countries.
“The Russian pattern at work is different from what we have seen before,” said a source at NATO. “At this point, it is unclear whether these military movements are aimed at an incursion into Ukraine or if it is just an exercise.”
Tensions in the region are already high because of the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, orchestrated by Minsk according to the Europeans, who are preparing new sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
(Report Dimitri Antonov, John Chalmers, John Irish and Robin Emmott, French version Myriam Rivet and Sophie Louet, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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