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Ukraine: Speculations about exact timing for invasion by Russia - What could be behind all this

2022-02-12T12:17:54.975Z


Ukraine: Speculations about exact timing for invasion by Russia - What could be behind all this Created: 02/12/2022 13:13 By: Cindy Boden US President Joe Biden (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (montage) © CHIP SOMODEVILLA/NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/afp A Russian invasion of Ukraine during the Olympics, perhaps from February 16? This date is making the rounds. what's up And why is Washingt


Ukraine: Speculations about exact timing for invasion by Russia - What could be behind all this

Created: 02/12/2022 13:13

By: Cindy Boden

US President Joe Biden (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (montage) © CHIP SOMODEVILLA/NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/afp

A Russian invasion of Ukraine during the Olympics, perhaps from February 16?

This date is making the rounds.

what's up

And why is Washington spreading a date?

Washington, DC - Hours of crisis meetings and talks, switching conferences between the powerful, phone calls from the top: Crisis diplomacy over the Ukraine conflict is in high season.

Especially now that the West is increasingly expecting Russia to invade its neighboring country.

The US government said on Friday (February 11) that it considered a Russian invasion of Ukraine possible before the end of the Winter Olympics in China on February 20.

This period of time is reportedly being further narrowed down internally.

There is even talk of a specific day: Wednesday, February 16th.

Soon Russia will invade Ukraine: Exact date circulating - what could be behind it

Der Spiegel

reported

information that the US secret service CIA and the US military had informed NATO countries about it.

New information gave rise to fears that an attack could take place as early as next Wednesday.

The report draws on information from several diplomats and military officials.

A tweet by Nick Schifrin, a reporter for the US medium

PBS News Hour

, also contains information on this: The US expects the invasion to begin next week, several officials have reported to him.

Initially, nothing was officially and publicly heard from the US government on this date.

The representatives did not comment on the reports.

US President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, only referred to the possibility of an attack during the Winter Olympics.

He became more specific with the suggestion that it could start with "air and missile attacks" that could kill civilians.

Ukraine conflict: Russia rejects alleged invasion plans

The current events also include the fact that Russia generally continues to deny plans for an invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has denied any attack plans for many weeks.

However, the government around President Vladimir Putin says it feels threatened by NATO.

the

world

reports on a renewed rejection of the invasion plans: the Russian foreign minister has stated that western states are spreading misinformation in this regard and are being supported by the media.

The West would try to distract from its own aggressive actions.

Most recently, the Pentagon announced that it would send 3,000 additional US soldiers to Poland.

Russia's embassy in the US also dismissed the American warnings as unfounded.

“Alarminism” is being spread without any evidence being presented.

US national security adviser Sullivan said at least that the US still does not believe that Russian President Putin has already made a "final decision" about an attack.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock does not see any signs of de-escalation either, as she announced during a visit to Jordan.

(Further background information and current reports can also be found in our political newsletter.)

Biden and Putin on the phone - information shows how urgent it is for the United States

The fact that the USA is tense is not only shown by the deployment of troops.

For example, representatives of the US government said on Friday that Moscow had proposed a phone call between Biden and Putin on Monday, but finally accepted the counter-proposal of a conversation this Saturday (February 12).

Contact should therefore be made quickly.

According to Spiegel

in Berlin, it was initially not possible to find

out what information the sharp US warning around the date was based on.

There is much speculation as to why US officials are leaking an exact timing.

Der

Spiegel

, for example, mentions insiders who thought it possible that the USA had deliberately spread the information in order to torpedo the Russian attack plans.

"Putin is not stupid and is giving up the good negotiating position."

Ina Ruck, ARD correspondent, on Twitter

Florian Neuhann, who reports for ZDF from Brussels, pointed out a detail on Twitter on Friday evening: "The more detailed Western warnings of a war are (even with dates), the greater the credibility problem if they don't come true."

Ina Ruck, who has been reporting on Russia for ARD for a long time, presented another argument on Twitter.

Putin will not attack Ukraine so quickly because: "He's not stupid and is giving up the good negotiating position he has just gotten himself into."

Speculations on the Ukraine conflict: will Putin's troops invade?

Still in February?

Speculations about a possible attack date in mid-February have been around for some time.

Because by then the ground in the border area would be frozen, which would make an invasion easier.

In addition, the Olympic Games always play a role.

There are suspicions that Putin does not want to offend Chinese President Xi Jinping with an alleged invasion.

So maybe he's waiting?

Another date that crops up among the numerous speculations and comments on the web is February 23rd.

An important day in Russia, a public holiday.

Defender of the Fatherland Day, when all soldiers are honored.

However, the extent to which Putin, if he has any plans, will envisage that date is as uncertain as much else in this conflict.

(cibo)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-02-12

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