Kremlin insists Russia has no plans to invade any country
In the face of a series of accusations that Russia is preparing an attack on Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov recently affirmed that Russia has no plans to invade any country.
 |
| Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Photo: AFP/TTXVN |
“We are calling on the West to explain. Who will Russia attack and when? We repeat that Russia has never attacked anyone in its history. And Russia, which has gone through many wars, is the last country in Europe that wants to mention the word ‘war,’” Peskov said in an interview with Russian television on February 20, Sputnik (Russia) reported.
Mr. Peskov's statement came in the context of Western officials and media repeatedly accusing Russia in recent weeks of preparing to launch a full-scale attack on Ukraine.
On February 18, US President Joe Biden said he was confident that President Putin had “made the decision to attack Ukraine in the next few days.” But when asked to elaborate on the reason, Mr. Biden said only that the US had “credible intelligence” and abruptly ended the press conference.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also warned on February 20 that Russia was preparing to push Europe into the worst war since World War II. In an interview at the Munich Security Conference taking place in Germany, Prime Minister Johnson affirmed: "In fact, all signs indicate that plans to attack Ukraine have begun." This statement was made by the British leader after two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in attacks around areas controlled by independence forces in eastern Ukraine.
Against this backdrop, eastern Ukraine has seen a worrying escalation of tensions in recent days. Officials in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics said the Ukrainian military had fired artillery, heavy mortar shells, sniper attacks, sabotage and bombings into the region. Fearing a full-scale invasion by Kiev, Donbass militias have begun evacuating civilians to Russia and bolstering their defenses. They have also returned fire at the mortar and artillery attacks.
While Western leaders and media have largely remained silent about the escalation in Donbass, Kiev has blamed Moscow for provoking the conflict, Sputnik reported. On February 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Ukrainian leaders to sit down with Donbass independence forces as soon as possible to hold peace talks.
