Ukraine Demands Meeting With Russia Over Heavy Military Deployment At The Border
By Uganda Online Correspondent
Ukraine has requested an urgent meeting with Russia to discuss Moscow’s massing of troops and military equipment near Ukraine and inside annexed Crimea.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said late on Sunday that Moscow had not responded after Kyiv on Friday made a request via the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) demanding Russia explain its activities. Ukraine was now seeking a meeting with Russia within 48 hours, he said.
Kuleba’s remarks came ahead of renewed diplomatic efforts aimed at preventing a feared Russian invasion, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arriving in the Ukrainian capital on Monday for talks over the crisis with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Russian government has decided to not send a representative to this year’s Munich Security Conference, according to the chair of the event, Wolfgang Ischinger.
The conference, known as “Davos for defense”, begins on Friday and will bring together the world’s defense and security elite.
Tensions over the Ukraine-Russia crisis have been simmering for months and diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation have shown little sign of progress.
Greece’s foreign ministry has issued an advisory urging Greek nationals in Ukraine to leave the country “immediately”.
Athens’ move follows similar action by other Western states and came after the United States warned that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time.
Kuleba has said that Moscow failed to respond after Kyiv on Friday invoked a part of the Vienna Document, a set of security agreements, to demand Russia explain its military activities.
“Consequently, we take the next step. We request a meeting with Russia and all participating states within 48 hours to discuss its reinforcement & redeployment along our border & in temporarily occupied Crimea,” he tweeted on Sunday. There was no immediate response from Moscow.
The 1990 Vienna Document requires the 57 members of the OSCE to share information about their military forces and notify each other about major activities.
