Ukraine conflict: Ambassador calls for 'hellish sanctions' against Russia

Created: 2022-01-21Updated: 2022-01-21 06:31

By: Tobias Utz, Kerstin Kesselgruber

Numerous diplomats are trying to mediate in the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Blinken meets his Russian counterpart in Geneva.

• The Ukraine conflict creates a diplomatic crisis.

  Russia's* troops remain stationed on the Ukrainian border.

• An invasion is considered a possible scenario.

  The USA * warn against it.

  Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock* tries to mediate.

• The news situation on the Ukraine conflict in the news ticker.

Update from Friday, January 21, 2022, 6:21 a.m .:

The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, has requested that Russia be excluded from the Swift payment system. "Ukrainians are therefore calling on the Ampel government to put aside all concerns and decouple Russia from Swift," Melnyk told Funke media group newspapers. This harsh punitive measure must "remain in the toolbox of hellish sanctions as an efficient deterrent against Putin".

If banks can no longer use the international banking communication network Swift, this can have far-reaching consequences for their business.

The institutions are then more or less excluded from international money flows.

Transferring money from abroad to a country is becoming more difficult, and vice versa.

A possible exclusion of Russia from Swift is being discussed intensively as a sanction against the country in the tense Ukraine conflict.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday (January 21, 2022).

This satellite image shows the deployment of combat units at the Pogonovo military training area in Voronezh, Russia, on Wednesday (01/19/2022).

© Maxar Technologies/dpa

Ukraine crisis: blinking warns of real and high risk

+++ 9:48 p.m .: Efforts to

ease the conflict between Russia and Ukraine have been in full swing for the past week, but so far have not brought any tangible results.

Before a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday (January 21, 2022) in Geneva, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken again warned of the danger of further escalation.

In an interview with the ZDF "heute journal" on Thursday (January 20, 2022), Blinken spoke of a real and high risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The US Secretary of State stressed: “If a Russian soldier enters Ukraine across the border, then we are dealing with a really profound problem, because that is a very clear attack on Ukraine, whether it be a troop or a thousand soldiers acts.”

After confusing statement on the Ukraine crisis: US President Biden is trying to limit the damage

Blinken was referring to a statement by US President Joe Biden the day before that the reaction to a smaller number of Russian forces entering Ukraine could be different than to a large-scale attack.

Biden tried to limit the damage on Thursday.

He made it clear that any border crossing by Russian troops into Ukraine would be treated as an invasion and would have serious consequences.

Referring to the security guarantees demanded by Russia, Blinken said on ZDF: "We have already shown some accommodation.

Not just in the past few weeks, but over many years.

For many years, NATO has repeatedly reached out.” Blinken held talks in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on Wednesday and then traveled on to Berlin.

There he spoke to the most important European allies on Thursday.

The meeting with Lavrov in Geneva will follow this Friday.

Anthony Blinken (left) and Annalena Baerbock (right) at the press conference in Berlin on Thursday afternoon.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

Ukraine crisis: Baerbock's tone is getting rougher

+++ 2.50 p.m .:

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her US colleague Anthony Blinken discussed further steps in the Ukraine crisis on Thursday afternoon.

We met as "friends" in dialogue.

However, Baerbock stated: "Unfortunately, the Russian behavior speaks a different language." The Foreign Minister called on Russia to take "de-escalating steps".

Anything else would have consequences, “even if that for us [Germany, d.

Red.] would have economic consequences,” says Baerbock.

She was apparently alluding to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which Russia wants to use as a means of pressure.

US Secretary of State Blinken added that the western states are concerned with a "diplomatic solution" - and "not with aggression".

Russia announces surprising naval maneuvers in the middle of the Ukraine conflict

+++ 1.30 p.m .:

Amid the tensions with Ukraine and its western partners, Russia has announced large-scale naval maneuvers in the Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific and Mediterranean.

A total of more than 140 ships, more than 60 aircraft and about 1,000 pieces of other military equipment are involved in the exercises planned for January and February.

This was announced by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow on Thursday (January 20, 2022), according to Russian news agencies.

Around 10,000 soldiers should therefore take part.

Russia has announced naval maneuvers.

(Iconic photo) © Indonesian Fleet Command Koarmada/AFP

US authorizes arms shipments from other countries to Ukraine

+++ 1:10 p.m .:

In view of the increasing tensions in the Ukraine conflict, the United States has approved the delivery of US-made weapons for Ukraine at the request of the Baltic States. The United States wants to "accelerate the approved transfers of military equipment from the United States by other allies," said a representative of the US State Department in Berlin, where chief diplomat Antony Blinken discussed the Ukraine crisis with his European colleagues.

"European allies have what they need to provide additional security assistance to Ukraine in the coming days and weeks," the official said. The approval comes at the urgent request of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, AFP news agency learned from another source familiar with the incident. The scope and type of weapons involved was not disclosed. Among other things, the Baltic States have man-portable anti-aircraft missiles of the Javelin type, which can destroy tanks. Lithuania's Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas confirmed planned arms deliveries to Ukraine when asked by AFP. "We have decided to send weapons and other supplies, but I cannot give details," he said. The step aims toTo "deter" Russia from a possible invasion and show Lithuania's "continued support" for Kiev. Great Britain* also pledged its support to Ukraine on Monday and announced a delivery of anti-tank weapons.

A pilot sits in the cockpit of a Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet during a military exercise in southern Russia's Krasnodar Territory on Wednesday.

© Vitaliy Timkiv/dpa

Ukraine conflict: Navalny gets involved and reprimands the USA for dealing with Putin

First report from Thursday, January 20th, 2022, 11:29 a.m .:

Moscow – Alexej Navalny has warned the western states against making concessions to Vladimir Putin * in the Ukraine conflict.

The imprisoned opponent of the Kremlin wrote in several letters to Time magazine that the West keeps falling into Putin's traps.

“Rather than ignore this nonsense, the US accepts Putin's agenda and rushes off to organize a few meetings.

Just like a scared schoolboy who was bullied by a high school student," Navalny criticized.

According to Navalny, Putin fears less NATO than a change of power in Russia.

"In order to consolidate the country and the elites, Putin constantly needs all these extreme measures, all these wars - real, virtual, hybrid or just confrontations on the brink of war," said the opposition figure.

Putin's strategy takes into account Western threats in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In this way, he protects himself from personal punitive measures, Navalny said of Putin.

Alexei Navalny is in custody.

© Evgeny Feldman/AP/dpa

In his letters, Navalny also suggested measures to be taken in the Ukraine conflict: While the US should put pressure on Putin from outside, his allies would put pressure on Putin's supporters in the Kremlin from within, Navalny said.

Navalny is in a penal camp about 100 kilometers east of the capital Moscow.

In the past few weeks, Russia has massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the Ukrainian border.

In the West, therefore, an impending attack by Russia on the neighboring country is feared.

(tu/kke with AFP/dpa/rtr/epd)