Russia is conducting tank maneuvers near Ukraine and Belarus

In the Ukraine conflict, the fronts between Russia and the United States have hardened. Instead of withdrawing troops from the Ukraine border, the Kremlin is showing more troops. An important meeting is yet to come.

Russia Similar to tank maneuvers with talks on security in Eastern Europe Ukraine And Belarus started. About 3,000 soldiers are involved in exercises in the Voronezh, Belgorod and Bryansk regions near Ukraine and Smolensk near Belarus, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the Russian military. Earlier, the spokesman for the presidential office in Moscow, Dmitry Peskov, was not too optimistic during the first talks on Monday.

The backdrop of tensions in the region is the deployment of, among other things, about 100,000 Russian troops along the Ukrainian border. America And several European states are warning of an invasion of Ukraine. The government in Moscow denies plans for an invasion.

While the US is calling for Russian troops to withdraw from the border, Russia insists that NATO pledge not to include Ukraine in a military alliance and not to expand further east.

Important meeting on Wednesday

A NATO-Russia council meeting is planned for Wednesday – the first in two and a half years. it should be thursday after that Vienna discussions within the organization for security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Prior to NATO consultations with Russia the United States has so far seen no effort to defuse tensions through Moscow. Russia has about 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, Julian Smith, the US ambassador to NATO, told US broadcaster CNN on Tuesday. “We think they have a plan to move more troops.” There are currently no “clear signs of de-escalation” from Russia.

Representatives of the United States and Russia met in Geneva on Monday for bilateral talks. In Ukraine crisis But there was no approximation.