Russo-Ukraine War - 22 February 2022
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine lacked the right to sovereignty. Russia has decided not to send troops to eastern Ukraine “for now”, but added that it will do so in case of a "threat", Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said. "For now, no one is planning to send anything anywhere. If there is a threat, then we will provide assistance in accordance with the ratified treaties,” he said.
Jon Finer, the US deputy national security adviser, told CNN an invasion of Ukraine is underway. "An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway," Finer said. A US official cited by the AP said the White House had decided to begin referring to Russia's actions as an "invasion'' because of the situation on the ground.
The most senior US diplomat in Ukraine, charge d'affaires Kristina Kvien, said Putin's speech was not that of a reasonable man. "His outrageous statements about Ukraine and the Ukrainian people were delusional, reflecting a warped vision reminiscent, not of a global leader, but of Europe's worst authoritarians," Kvien said.
France described an address to the nation by Putin on Ukraine as "paranoid", accusing him of breaking promises made to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and threatening to introduce "targeted" sanctions. "We are going to implement appropriate and targeted sanctions against Russian interests with our European partners,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told journalists on 22 February 2022, adding that France reserved the right to “step up” the sanctions if Putin went further in his actions. Putin's speech, in which he recognised as independent two Ukrainian separatist regions, mixed "rigid and paranoid" ideas", a French presidential official said, adding that the Russian leader had "not respected promises made" to Macron.
The UK announced sanctions against five Russian banks and three "very high-net-worth individuals" including oligarch Gennady Timchenko, who Prime Minister Boris Johnson called out by name before Parliament. Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg are also being sanctioned by the UK.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany had taken steps to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia. He told reporters in Berlin that his government was taking the measure in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine. "That sounds technical, but it is the necessary administrative step so there can be no certification of the pipeline and without this certification, Nord Stream 2 cannot begin operating," Scholz said. "The department of the German ministry of economics will reassess the security of our supply needs in light of what has taken place."
On 22 February 2022, Donald Trump reacted to Putin's invasion of Ukraine: "I said, "This is genius." Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine -- of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. So, Putin is now saying, "It's independent," a large section of Ukraine. I said, "How smart is that?" And he's gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That's strongest peace force… We could use that on our southern border.... , but think of it. Here's a guy who's very savvy… I know him very well. Very, very well. By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable. This would never have happened. But here's a guy that says, you know, "I'm gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent," he used the word "independent," "and we're gonna go out and we're gonna go in and we're gonna help keep peace." You gotta say that's pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn't have one for that. No, it's very sad. Very sad."
The German and British defense ministers announced that they were prepared to send even more troops than planned to NATO units in the Baltic states. Separately, the UK announced military exercises in northern Europe. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on 22 February 2022 that German troops could be sent to Lithuania and other countries on NATO's eastern flank a day after Russia formally recognized two regions of Ukraine as independent, further igniting fears of violent conflict in the area.
"It is clear that we need to apply stricter deterrence measures," Lambrecht told a joint news conference with her Lithuanian counterpart at the Rukla military base. "I want to underscore that we are ready to send more troops, land and air. We are ready to send more troops also to Lithuania and signal that we are together with partners and we are a trustworthy partner in a crisis," she said.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said 800 British soldiers were being added to the NATO battlegroup in Estonia, and that more could be sent "to help protect allies if NATO makes a request." British Defense Minister Ben Wallace then announced that a separate group, the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), which includes the UK, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, would soon be engaging in military exercises "in northern Europe."
The United States described Russia’s actions as the start of an “invasion”, but along with allies has so far unveiled mostly incremental sanctions, while making clear they were keeping tougher measures in reserve in case of a full-scale invasion. As part of an initial tranche of sanctions, President Joe Biden said the US would impose sanctions on the company building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
European Union sanctions added all members of Russia’s lower house of parliament who voted to recognise the separatist regions in Ukraine to a blacklist, freezing their assets and banning travel. The European Union has imposed sanctions on a series of senior Russian officials – including Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and presidential chief of staff Anton Vaino – as well RT’s own editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, accusing each of helping to “threaten the territorial integrity” of Ukraine.
Responding to Moscow's decision to recognize two breakaway republics in Donbass, the EU moved to sanction hundreds of officials, lawmakers and even media figures. A total of 351 deputies in the Russian legislature, the Duma, were also slapped with penalties, for voting to recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk republics in the Donbass as sovereign states. Their votes “further destabilized Ukraine,” according to the European bloc. Among the most senior officials sanctioned was Defense Minister Shoigu, who was accused of supporting the 2014 reunification of Crimea with Russia and “actively supporting and implementing actions and policies that undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine as well as the stability or security in Ukraine.”
The United Kingdom announced new restrictions banning Russia from the issuing of new bonds in its security markets, and called for its broadcasting regulator to investigate Russia’s RT international television news channel as a propaganda outlet.
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