After the failure of talks on Ukraine: Russia threatens to deploy forces in Cuba and Venezuela

A senior Biden administration official declined to comment: "Idle threats"

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13/01/2022

Thursday, January 13, 2022, 10:41 p.m.

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Putin said Ukraine's accession to NATO is a "red line". Putin, today (Photo: AP)

Russia raised a terrible threshold today (Thursday) by refusing to rule out the deployment of military forces in Cuba and Venezuela if tensions with the United States and NATO around Ukraine and Eastern Europe escalate. At the closest point in 30 years - since the end of the Cold War - war broke

out.Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said he "does not approve or deny" the possibility that Russia will send military assets to Latin America if the West does not reduce its military activities near the borders of Russia

"It all depends on the actions of our counterparts in the United States," the minister said in an interview with Russian television network RTVI, citing President Vladimir Putin's warning against taking undefined "military-technical measures" if the United States and its allies did not meet Moscow's demands.

Ryabkov led Russia's delegation to talks with the United States on Monday. Talks between the West and Russia took place in response to a significant backlog of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border, and fears in Europe and Washington that this might be a prelude to the invasion.

Russia, which annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, denies it plans to attack its neighbor. In response, the Kremlin accused NATO of threatening Russia and demanded that the military alliance pledge not to include Ukraine or any other former Soviet republic in its ranks.

Washington and its allies vehemently rejected the demand this week, saying it was not open to negotiations. Leaving the door open for further talks on arms control and other issues designed to reduce the chance of war.

A senior Biden administration official said Ryabkov's statement on Cuba and Venezuela did not change Washington's calculations.

"We do not intend to respond to idle threats. If Russia does start moving in that direction, we will deal with it resolutely," said the senior official, who spoke anonymously to discuss the ongoing negotiations.

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Ryabkov last month compared Ukraine's current tensions to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Soviet Union deployed missiles on the island and the United States imposed a naval blockade on it.

The crisis ended when US President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed that Moscow would take out the missiles in exchange for Washington's commitment not to invade Cuba and the removal of American missiles from Turkey.

Putin, who seeks to reduce NATO military activity in Eastern Europe, claims that the alliance can use Ukrainian territory to deploy missiles capable of reaching Moscow in just five minutes. In international waters.

Shortly after he was first elected president in 2000, Putin ordered the closure of a Soviet spy facility in Cuba in hopes of improving ties with Washington. But in recent years, the Cold War-era traditional allies have tightened their ties amid growing tensions between Russia and the United States. In December 2018, Russia sent nuclear bombers to Venezuela in a demonstration in support of Venezuelan Socialist President Nicolas Maduro who was under great pressure from the West.

Ryabkov said the refusal of the United States and its allies to consider Russia's main demand brought the talks to a dead end. "The United States wants to have a dialogue on some aspects of the security situation in order to ease tensions and then continue the process of geopolitical and military development of the new territories, as they get even closer to Moscow," he said. "We have nowhere to retreat." He described the

military

presence and exercises of the United States and NATO near Russia's territory as highly undermining stability.

"To test our strength," said Russia's deputy foreign minister.

At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected Western calls for the withdrawal of forces from areas near Ukraine, saying NATO could not dictate to Russia how to deploy its forces in its own territory. Were unsuccessful in general due to the lack of responses to Moscow's security demands , and

warned of a complete rupture in US-Russian relations if it imposed sanctions on Putin and other senior Russian officials. 14,000 people were killed in almost eight years of fighting between the pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian forces in the east of the country.

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