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Russia: Chancellor Scholz travels to Moscow
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia said Wednesday it was returning more troops and weapons to bases, but NATO declared it saw no sign of a drawdown as fears that Moscow could invade Ukraine soon persisted.
Russia has massed about 150,000 troops east, north and south of Ukraine, sparking Western concerns it was planning an attack. Moscow denies it has any such plans and this week said it was pulling back some forces and weapons, though it gave few details. Those claims have been met with skepticism from the U.S. and its allies — even as they seemed to lower the temperature following weeks of escalating East-West tensions.
On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing a trainload of armored vehicles moving across a bridge away from Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. A day earlier, the ministry reported the start of a pullback of troops following military exercises near Ukraine.
But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg threw cold water on those statements, saying the military organization does not see any sign that Moscow is decreasing its troop levels in and around Ukraine.
“At the moment, we have not seen any withdrawal of Russian forces,” he said, before chairing a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
“If they really start to withdraw forces, that’s something we will welcome but that remains to be seen.”
Countries in the alliance have also expressed doubt, as have leaders in Ukraine. Caught between Russia and the West, Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly sought to project calm but also strength during the crisis.
In a show of resolve, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Wednesday — tipped by some officials as a possible start for an invasion — a “day of national unity.” To mark the day, demonstrators unfolded a 200-meter (656-foot) national flag at a sports arena in Kyiv.
“We are united by a desire to happily live in peace,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation. “We can defend our home only if we stay united.”
The Russian military hasn’t given the number of troops or weapons being withdrawn and offered few other details. And while Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled he wants a diplomatic path out of the crisis, he hasn’t committed to a full withdrawal.
Putin has emphasized that he did not want war and would rely on negotiations to achieve his key goal of keeping Ukraine from joining NATO.
While those comments seemed to change the tenor, Western leaders insisted that the crisis was far from over. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that American officials had not verified Russia’s claim, and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace also said “it’s too soon to tell” whether the pullback is genuine, noting that the Russians “haven’t taken the foot of the gas.”
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