Kremlin accuses U.S. of stoking tension with troop deployments
Send a link to a friend
[February 03, 2022]
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused
the United States on Thursday of ramping up tensions and ignoring
Moscow's calls to ease a standoff over Ukraine, a day after Washington
announced it would deploy nearly 3,000 extra troops to Poland and
Romania.
Ukraine says Russia has built up 115,000 troops near its borders,
stoking fears of a looming attack. Moscow denies any such plan, but
Washington said on Wednesday it would send extra forces to shield
eastern Europe from any crisis spillover.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the U.S. troop deployments on
a conference call with reporters.
"It's obvious that these are not steps aimed at de-escalating tensions,
but on the contrary they are actions that lead to increasing tension,"
he said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
"We constantly call on our American counterparts to stop aggravating
tensions on the European continent. Unfortunately, the Americans
continue to do so," he said.
Russia's troop buildup comes against the backdrop of a Kremlin campaign
to extract a sweeping set of security guarantees from the West.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/020322pics/news_x81.jpg)
Russian and U.S. state flags fly near a factory in Vsevolozhsk,
Leningrad Region, Russia March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/werth_lda_LUAL_2021.png) President Vladimir Putin said on
Tuesday the West had ignored Russia's main concerns and accused the
United States of trying to lure it into war, though he said Russia
was still interested in dialogue.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to skip this year's
annual Feb. 18-20 Munich Security Conference, the Kommersant
newspaper reported on Thursday.
Putin, who used the event in 2007 to deliver a speech denouncing
what he described as a U.S. desire to dominate the world, will also
not attend, the Kremlin has said.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by
Mark Trevelyan)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |