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Ukraine conflict: US put 8,500 soldiers on "high alert"

2022-01-24T22:03:01.694Z


The US is preparing to move troops to Europe - as a signal to Vladimir Putin. In the evening, US President Joe Biden will discuss how to proceed in the Ukraine conflict with Chancellor Scholz, among others.


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A US soldier in New York: The US put 8,500 soldiers on “alert” because of the Ukraine conflict

Photo:

John Moore/Getty Images

According to the Department of Defense, the US government has put around 8,500 soldiers in the United States on "higher alert" because of the Ukraine crisis. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby emphasized that a decision on moving these troops to Europe had not yet been made. However, the relevant units were put on increased readiness on the instructions of US President Joe Biden and on the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The soldiers could be deployed as part of NATO's rapid reaction force in the event of a Russian attack on the neighboring country, Kirby said.

The New York Times had previously reported that Biden was considering relocating warships and planes to NATO allies in the Baltic and Eastern Europe and sending several thousand US soldiers.

The United States has tens of thousands of soldiers stationed in Europe, even outside of times of crisis.

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Olaf Scholz warns Russia against violating European borders

Photo: CLEMENS BILAN / POOL / EPA

A video call with US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other European allies was planned for Monday evening amid tensions and fears of Russian troops invading Ukraine.

Scholz said the conversation was "a good sign of close cooperation".

It is important to act as one.

This includes insisting that borders in Europe should not be violated.

“We won't accept that either.

(...) That would have high costs.«

French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Polish President Andrzej Duda, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel were also expected to attend the switching conference.

Further talks in the so-called Normandy format are to take place on Wednesday between advisers from France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, according to the Élysée Palace in Paris.

The last summit meeting in the Normandy format took place in 2019.

Against a background of rising tensions, European calls for a renewal of these talks grew louder.

Boris Johnson warns Russia

Johnson made an urgent appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Everyone can see the plan for a blitzkrieg that could eliminate Kiev," said the British prime minister.

"We have to make it very clear to the Kremlin, Russia, that it would be a disastrous move." From a Russian perspective, too, this would be a "painful, violent and bloody affair," Johnson said.

London had flown anti-tank weapons to Ukraine and, like the United States, had withdrawn workers from its embassy in Kiev.

They are also in the process of preparing economic sanctions.

According to SPIEGEL information, the European Union is also planning this, still because of the annexation of Crimea.

In the face of a massive Russian troop deployment near Ukraine, there are fears in the West that the Kremlin is planning an invasion of the neighboring country - which Moscow denies.

It is also considered possible that fears are only being fueled in order to persuade the NATO states to make concessions when demands for new security guarantees are made.

Russia wants NATO to refrain from further eastward expansion and withdraw its armed forces from eastern alliance states.

hba/dpa/AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-01-24

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