Ukraine invasion by Russia?

"Afraid": bad news appeared - now Baerbock intervenes

Created: 01/15/2022 10:27 am

By: Felix Durach

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Ukraine and Russia for talks next week.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

The conflicts between Ukraine and Russia seem to be getting worse.

Foreign Minister Baerbock will now play a special role.

The news ticker.

• The conflict between Ukraine and Russia* seems to be getting worse.

• The Kremlin on Friday dismissed allegations that Russia was behind a cyber attack on Ukraine.

• Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to the crisis area in the coming week and hold talks.

• This news ticker is continuously updated.

Kiev - With the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, there is no prospect of relaxation at the weekend. A new level of escalation occurred on Friday night when a cyber attack of previously unknown origin paralyzed various Ukrainian government websites. According to the

, the message: "Be afraid and expect the worst"

was left on several pages .

Even if there is no reliable information yet, the government in Moscow is suspected to be behind the attack. When asked on Friday whether Russia was responsible for the attack, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell replied: "We have no evidence, but it is conceivable."

Ukraine conflict escalates: Kremlin defends itself against "unfounded statements" from Washington

The US government also made serious allegations against Moscow and President Putin after the incidents, drawing parallels with Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 to conduct a false flag operation in eastern Ukraine,” US President Biden's government spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in Washington DC.

Moscow is engaged in a type of "urban warfare" in eastern Ukraine.

However, the Kremlin dismissed the accusations from the West on Friday.

"All of these statements have so far been unfounded and have not been confirmed by anything," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency TASS on Friday evening, referring to the allegations by the Biden administration.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had already reacted to the reports from Washington in a press conference on Friday and again asked NATO* to issue security guarantees to Russia.

"You have to understand that the key to everything is the guarantee that NATO will not expand eastwards," Lavrov said, adding: "We are at the end of our patience."

Ukraine conflict: Baerbock travels to the crisis area - Union expects "clear messages"

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock*, who sees herself confronted with a major task early in her first term in office, could now play a special role in the escalating conflict. The Greens politician announced on Friday that she would like to travel to eastern Ukraine with her French counterpart Jean Yves Le Drian. The Foreign Minister then wants to hold talks with the Ukrainian President Selenskyj in Kiev and then with the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Moscow. The aim is also to revive the Normandy format, in which Germany and France negotiate with Russia and Ukraine as mediators.

On Thursday, Baerbock pleaded for "a role that is based on hardness, but also on dialogue". "In relation to autocratic actors such as Russia and China, it is important that if Europe follows a common course and acts as one, it is a heavyweight - if it acts divided, it fights below its weight class," said the Foreign Minister.

Referring to his party colleague's trip abroad, Green politician Jürgen Trittin said that there was no guarantee of success.

"It remains to be seen whether the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is really interested in an exchange of views or whether he will only repeat known positions," the 67-year-old told the

.

The deputy head of the Union parliamentary group, Johann Wadephul (CDU), demanded "clear messages, a clear position and unmistakable announcements from the Foreign Minister, so that Russia initiates a course of de-escalation."