US President Joe Biden said he was preparing a package of comprehensive measures that would prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from taking action against Ukraine.
“I am putting together what I believe to be the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives that will very, very much prevent Mr Putin from doing what people fear he is preparing to do,” Biden told reporters at the White House. informs Reuters.
Biden added that his administration is in constant contact with the authorities in Kiev and European allies.
Earlier, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov said that the likelihood of a large-scale “escalation from the Russian Federation” exists, the most likely time is the end of January, but this scenario is not necessary. According to him, Russia has concentrated over 94 thousand of its military near the Ukrainian borders.
Kiev and Western states have recently expressed concern about the pulling together of Russian troops to the border with Ukraine. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is moving troops within its territory and at its own discretion. According to him, this does not threaten anyone and should not worry anyone.
December 1 analysts from the Conflict Intelligence Team analyzed video with the next echelon with military equipment and came to the conclusion that it was moving from Abakan (Republic of Khakassia) to Yelnya (Smolensk region), where the equipment of the 41st combined-arms army of the Central Military District is located.
Judging by the video, the movement is on the roads in Khakassia and the Sayan Mountains.
“The nearest unit equipped with such equipment is the 55th separate motorized rifle brigade, which is deployed in Kyzyl (Republic of Tyva), from where it could only get to Abakan by road. This brigade is also part of the 41st Army, whose transfer to the western borders of Russia is apparently continuing, ”the publication says.
At the same time, investigators from CIT said that they had disabled access to the service with which they tracked the transfer of Russian troops. Journalists believe that “the special services and / or the administration of the service oppose the monitoring of the situation around the build-up of the Russian group at the border with Ukraine and in Crimea.”
In a conversation with The Insider, CIT analyst Kirill Mikhailov emphasized that such movements cannot be explained by the exercises: “No major exercises were announced. Moreover, such exercises have long passed, in September they were, but now the equipment, which, according to the assurances of the Russian military, was supposed to return to its base in Siberia, has not returned, and moreover, it has moved to the Yelnya region, where it is now based. At the same time, such forces as the 1st Guards Tank Army, in particular the 4th Kantemirovskaya Division, as well as units of traditional seismic and biological protection, which are equipped with heavy flamethrower systems “Solntsepek”, continue to be drawn to the border. In addition, we observed the movement of some formations of the Southern Military District to the Crimea. If this moment can be explained by the recently announced exercises of the Southern Military District, then it is difficult to explain why, as we assume, the Ulyanovsk paratroopers from the 31st brigade are moving there. In any case, such a concentration of troops is not explained by the exercises, and it looks like the preparation of some possible operation on the territory controlled by Ukraine. “
According to him, the secrecy of this operation raises serious concerns. “If it were just muscle flexing and saber-rattling, it would be done much more openly,” Mikhailov said.