MOSCOW, Russia (AP) — Russia increased the stakes in its conflict with the West over Ukraine on Thursday, with a top diplomat refusing to rule out a Russian military deployment to Cuba and Venezuela if tensions with the US escalate.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who headed the Russian team in Monday’s talks with the US in Geneva, said he could “neither confirm nor exclude” Russia sending military assets to Cuba and Venezuela if the negotiations fail and US pressure intensifies on Russia.
The Russia-US talks in Geneva, as well as a later NATO-Russia summit, failed to reduce the gap on Moscow’s security needs, despite a deployment of Russian forces near Ukraine. While Moscow requested a halt to NATO expansion, Washington and its allies strongly rejected this as a non-starter.
In an interview with Russian RTVI TV, Ryabkov stated that “it all depends on the conduct of our US colleagues,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat that Moscow might take military-technical steps if the US irritates the Kremlin and increases military pressure on it.
While expressing concern that NATO could potentially use Ukrainian territory to deploy missiles capable of reaching Moscow in just five minutes, Putin has noted that Russian warships armed with the latest Zircon hypersonic cruise missile would provide Russia with a similar capability if deployed in neutral waters.
Zircon, which Putin claims travels at nine times the speed of sound and has a range of more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), is difficult to intercept and could be loaded with conventional or nuclear bombs. It will be commissioned by the Russian military later this year and put on its frigates and submarines.
As part of his efforts to repair relations with the United States, Putin ordered the dismantling of a Soviet-built military monitoring site in Cuba shortly after his first election in 2000. As tensions with the United States and its allies have risen, Moscow has increased connections with Cuba.
In December 2018, Russia temporarily transported two nuclear-capable Tu-160 bombers to Venezuela in support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in the face of Western pressure.
According to Ryabkov, the United States and its allies’ refusal to consider the key Russian demand for guarantees against the alliance’s expansion to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations makes it difficult to discuss issues such as arms control and confidence-building measures that Washington says it is willing to negotiate.
“The United States wants to hold a conversation on some aspects of the security situation… to calm tensions and then continue the process of geopolitical and military growth of the new areas, bringing them closer to Moscow,” he added. “There is nowhere for us to go.”
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, also called this week’s discussions “unsuccessful,” albeit mentioning “some good components and subtleties.” “The conversations were launched to obtain precise responses to concrete primary concerns that were addressed, yet disputes remained on those basic issues, which is terrible,” he stated during a press conference.
If planned penalties targeting Putin and other senior civilian and military figures are enacted, Peskov warned of a catastrophic breakdown in US-Russian relations. Senate Democrats’ proposed legislation would also target key Russian financial institutions if Moscow deploys soldiers into Ukraine.
“It involves sanctions, which, given the inevitable adequate reaction, basically amount to an attempt to rupture ties,” he said, adding that Russia will reply in kind.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also condemned the planned penalties as a manifestation of the United States’ “arrogance,” saying that Moscow expects a written answer to its requests from the United States and NATO next week in order to consider further moves.
The negotiations take place as an estimated 100,000 Russian troops, armed with tanks and other heavy weaponry, concentrate near Ukraine’s eastern border. Russia has downplayed fears of an invasion, accusing the West of endangering its security by stationing military people and equipment in Central and Eastern Europe.
Peskov rejected Western requests for a Russian army withdrawal from locations bordering Ukraine. “It’s difficult for NATO to tell us where to relocate our armed troops on Russian soil,” he added.
Tensions over Ukraine and Russia’s demands on the West resurfaced during the Organization for Security and Cooperation summit in Vienna on Thursday.
In his inaugural address as OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau stated that “the risk of conflict in the OSCE territory is today larger than ever before in the previous 30 years.”
“We have been facing the threat of a significant military escalation in Eastern Europe for some weeks,” he continued.
After the removal of Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly leader in 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula and backed a separatist insurgency in the country’s east, where over 14,000 people have been murdered in more than seven years of war.
Tensions over Ukraine were also high on the agenda of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brest, France. Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod stated that “the military threats, the game he’s playing, the way he’s attempting to pull us back to the worst days of the Cold War are utterly unacceptable.”
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, reiterated that “any further aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe costs for Russia,” adding that the 27-country bloc is providing 31 million euros ($35.5 million) in logistical assistance to the Ukrainian army and is preparing to send a mission to assist the country in countering cyber-attacks.
