Russia is accusing the United States of ‘whipping up hysterics’ by calling for Monday’s United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss Ukraine and claims the West wants to make ‘heroes out of people who fought on the side of Hitler’ in order to divide the two former Soviet states.
Across his roughly 15-minute remarks Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya issued adamant denials about Moscow’s intentions while making blistering accusations about the West’s true intentions.
The US called for the 15-member meeting in New York City as the world tensely watches Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s aggressive military buildup on Ukraine’s border and various intelligence reports indicate an incursion is all but certain.
At the moment there are roughly 112,000 Russian ground forces on the doorstep of eastern Ukraine and in Crimea, its Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said on Monday, though earlier in the meeting Russia denied having any troops at the border at all.
‘And together, with the maritime and aviation component, their number reaches about 130,000,’ he added.
American UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Moscow’s mobilization of troops is the largest seen ‘in Europe in decades.’
As it was underway, President Joe Biden released a statement warning of ‘swift and severe’ consequences if Russia invades Ukraine.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya accused the US of ginning up ‘hysterics’ and ‘brainwashing’ Ukrainians at the heated meeting. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said she was ‘disappointed’ but not ‘surprised’ by his comments
A photograph shows tanks of the 92nd separate mechanized brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces parked in their base near Klugino-Bashkirivka village, in the Kharkiv region on January 31
A Ukrainian serviceman adjusts the strap of his weapon in a trench at a frontline position in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine on Monday, Jan. 31
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are joining territorial forces to fight alongside 250,000 regular troops to defend their country
‘If Russia is sincere about addressing our respective security concerns through dialogue, the United States and our Allies and partners will continue to engage in good faith,’ Biden said. ‘If instead Russia chooses to walk away from diplomacy and attack Ukraine, Russia will bear the responsibility, and it will face swift and severe consequences.’
After failing to stop the meeting at its outset Nebenzya tore into the US and its Western allies, accusing them of trying to provoke a war between Russia and Ukraine.
‘Our Western colleagues are talking the need for de-escalation. However, first and foremost, they themselves are whipping up tensions and rhetoric and are provoking escalation,’ Nebenzya said.
‘You are almost calling for this, you want it to happen, you’re waiting for it to happen. As if you want to make your words become a reality.’
He said Russian troops are ‘not actually on the border’ and that the buildup is a deployment of forces ‘in our own territory.’
Nebenzya also implied the West was lying about the number of troops, which reports indicate exceeds 100,000.
A general view during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the situation between Russia and Ukraine, at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya delivered a 15 minute speech during which he denied Moscow was amassing troops on Ukraine’s border and accused the West of trying to divide Russia and Ukraine
‘Where did you get the figure of 100,000 troops that are deployed, as you state, on the Russian-Ukrainian border, although that is not the case? We have never cited that figure. We’ve never confirmed that figure,’ he said.
He went as far as to accuse the US of ‘brainwashing’ Ukrainians.
‘They’re cultivated with Russophobia and radical thinking, leading to the belief that for Ukraine to have a bright future It mustn’t establish relations with its neighbors but rather at any cost, strive to join the EU and NATO,’ Nebenzya said.
‘They are banning Russian, which is a native language for a significant if not the majority of people in Ukraine.’
He added: ‘They are making heroes out of those people who fought on the side of Hitler, who destroyed Jews, Poles, Ukrainians and Russians.’
Nebenzya went so far as to accuse western governments of bringing ‘nazis’ to power in Ukraine after the country overthrew its pro-Russian government in 2014 in favor of democratically elected officials who wanted a warmer relationship with the rest of Europe.
‘If our western colleagues who provoked and supported the 2014 Bloody anti-constitutional bringing to powering key of nationalist, radicals, Russophobes and pure fascists — nazis, rather, if they’d not done this, then we today would be living in a state of good neighborly relations,’ he said.
Thomas-Greenfield hit back at Russia, stating she was ‘disappointed’ but not ‘surprised’ by her Kremlin colleague’s searing remarks.
‘I cannot let the false equivalency go unchecked. So I, I feel I must respond. Let me be clear — there are no plans to weaken Russia, as claimed by our Russian colleague today,’ she said.
‘On the contrary, we welcome Russia as a responsible member of the international community, but its actions on the border of Ukraine are not responsible.
‘The threats of aggression on the border of Ukraine — yes, on its border — are provocative. Our reactions to threats on the ground are not provocative.’
The Security Council meeting was contentious from the outset, with the Russian ambassador calling for a vote on whether it should proceed in the first place.
The meeting was contentious from the outset, with Russia calling for a vote to shut it down
Ukraine Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said there are 112,000 Russian troops at Ukraine’s border and in Crimea
But the effort failed with only Russia and China voted against it, 10 countries voting for it and Gabon, India and Kenya abstaining.
At the meeting’s outset Nebenzya accused the US of trying to ‘whip up hysterics’ and denounced ‘the myth of Russian aggression.’
He added that reports of Russia’s military build up in preparation for an attack are ‘unfounded accusations.’
Thomas-Greenfield challenged Nebezya’s charges, declaring: ‘Imagine how uncomfortable you would feel if you had 100,00 troops on your border.’
But Nebezya dismissed Thomas-Greenfield’s comments as a ‘hodgepodge of accusations’ and compared the US’s preparations for a possible war in Eastern Europe to former Defense Secretary Colin Powell’s infamous 2003 speech to the United Nations that preceded the Iraq war.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the Biden administration of putting out misleading information in order to foment further tensions.
‘To our dismay, American media have lately been publishing a very large amount of unverified, distorted and deliberately deceitful information about what’s happening in Ukraine and around it,’ Peskov said according to multiple media reports.
‘Hysteria hyped up by Washington is causing hysteria in Ukraine, almost to the point that people are packing their bags for the front. It’s a fact. And this is the reverse side, very harmful side of the campaign which Washington is pursuing now.’
Meanwhile the Biden administration is reportedly drawing up ‘specific sanctions packages’ targeting Russian oligarchs and ‘elites’ in the Kremlin’s inner circle that would be levied if Moscow invades Ukraine, it was revealed on Monday.
On Tuesday, State Secretary Antony Blinken is preparing to have a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
But behind the scenes, US officials are reportedly looking at ‘a broad list of individuals’ and their families to target with harsh economic penalties if Moscow moves forward, according to the Financial Times.
‘Putin’s cronies will no longer be able to use their spouses or other family members as proxies to evade sanctions,’ senior administration officials told the outlet.
‘The individuals we have identified are in or near the inner circles of the Kremlin and play a role in government decision making or are at a minimum complicit in the Kremlin’s destabilising behaviour.’
They did not name specific individuals so as not to give the intended targets advance notice, but reportedly chose oligarchs with a significant financial interest in the West.
‘Sanctions would cut them off from the international financial system and ensure that they and their family members will no longer be able to enjoy the perks of parking their money in the west and attending elite western universities,’ the Biden officials said.
The Biden administration is reportedly looking at ‘specific’ sanctions packages targeting Vladimir Putin’s cronies after President Biden said he wouldn’t rule out sanctioning the Russian leader himself
An administration official told CNN that these were considered ‘particularly vulnerable targets.’
They said the sanctions being worked out would be ‘massive’ in scale in order to ‘atrophy Russia’s ability to pursue its strategic ambitions.’
‘The Russian elite should fear the consequences that would befall them should Russia further invade,’ the official said.
The Russian elites to be targeted come from ‘any sector of the Russian economy as identified by the Secretary of the Treasury’ and include some names from a 2018 list of powerful individuals and companies designated by the Trump administration.
The Treasury’s 2018 list includes ‘seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank’ designated by the Treasury under the Trump administration,’ according to the Department.
An official reportedly said he sanctions are only part of the broad swath of penalties the US is looking at should Russia invade Ukraine.
President Biden said last week he would not rule out sanctioning Putin personally, as US reports indicate an ‘imminent’ invasion and the United Kingdom’s intelligence pointed to an alleged coup plot by the Russians in Ukraine’s capital of Kiev.
Ukrainian servicemen stand next to armored personnel carrier (APC) of the 92nd separate mechanized brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, parked in their base near Klugino-Bashkirivka village, in the Kharkiv region on January 31
Meanwhile international intelligence reports indicate an invasion by Russia could be ‘imminent’
At the same time, federal lawmakers in Congress are preparing to act on their own sanctions package.
In a show of bipartisan unity, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez and ranking member Sen. Jim Risch appeared on CNN together Sunday to discuss a two-tiered approach to punishing Russia.
It would likely include measures to levy sanctions over actions Russia has already taken, such as a massive cyberattack against Ukraine’s government that Kiev claims Moscow is responsible for.
They’re also looking to potentially send more weapons to Ukraine on top of the lethal and defensive aid already sent.
Russia’s threatening posture toward the former Soviet state has accelerated the worsening of relations between Moscow and Washington, now at their lowest point since the Cold War.
Monday will mark the highest-profile attempt by the West to deter Russia through diplomacy, as representatives of the most powerful nations in the world gather in New York.
Previous talks held between Russia and the US and its NATO allies in Europe have so far failed to break ground.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who will be at Monday’s meeting, told ABC News in a television interview on Sunday: ‘We’ve made clear that we’re prepared to address our concerns, Ukrainian concerns and Russian concerns at the diplomatic table, but it cannot be done on the battlefield.’
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday accused Nato of trying to pull Kiev into the alliance, despite Russia massing 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders. Moscow wants Nato to rule out Ukraine ever becoming a member as a condition for its withdrawal.
The head of Russia’s security council, Nikolai Patrushev, said talk of a Russian invasion was ‘completely ridiculous’ and claimed: ‘We don’t want war and we don’t need it at all.’
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are joining territorial forces to fight alongside 250,000 regular troops to defend their country. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said there are ‘no plans’ to deploy Nato combat troops to Ukraine.
He noted there was ‘a difference’ between being a full NATO member, with a mutual defense obligation between countries, and a ‘strong and highly valued partner’ such as Ukraine.
Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine has expanded to include supplies of blood along with other medical materials that would allow it to treat casualties, in yet another key indicator of Moscow’s military readiness, three US officials told Reuters.
Current and former US officials say concrete indicators — like blood supplies — are critical in determining whether Moscow would be prepared to carry out an invasion, if Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to do so.
The Pentagon has previously acknowledged the deployment of ‘medical support’ as part of Russia’s buildup. But the disclosure of blood supplies adds a level of detail that experts say is critical to determining Russian military readiness.
‘It doesn’t guarantee that there’s going to be another attack, but you would not execute another attack unless you have that in hand,’ said Ben Hodges, a retired US lieutenant general now with the Center for European Policy Analysis research institute.