Moscow/Munich/Washington: Russian forces today performed a strategic deterrence forces exercise under the supervision of President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Vladimir Putin. The G7 nations called on Russia to choose the path of diplomacy, to de-escalate tensions, to substantively withdraw military forces from the proximity of Ukraine’s borders.
The G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union today urged Russia to “fully abide by international commitments including on risk reduction and transparency of military activities”.
Incidentally, Putin observed the war exercises from the Kremlin’s situation room together with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
The G7 foreign ministers issued a joint statement saying they remained gravely concerned about Russia’s threatening military build-up around Ukraine, “in illegally annexed Crimea and in Belarus”.
Also read: Do Russian war exercises getting over on 20th mean end of escalation?
The Russian exercise included launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, kremlin.ru stated today. Military equipment and personnel of the Aerospace Forces, Southern Military District, Strategic Missile Forces, Northern and Black Sea fleets were engaged in the exercise. The Aerospace Forces successfully launched the Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles, kremlin.ru reported today.
The ships and submarines of the Northern and Black Sea fleets launched the Kalibr cruise missiles and the Tsirkon hypersonic missile at sea and surface targets, it stated.
Giving further details, Kremlin stated a hands-on launch of the Iskander land-based cruise missile was made at the Kapustin Yar training ground in the Astrakhan Region. The Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the positional area of the Plesetsk state testing cosmodrome to hit the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Air-based cruise missiles launched by Tu-95MS long-range strategic missile carriers hit the targets at Pemboi and Kura training grounds. The Karelia strategic nuclear-powered submarine cruiser of the Northern Fleet launched the Sineva ballistic missile to hit a target at the Kura training ground.
Kremlin claimed the strategic deterrence forces exercise was scheduled in advance to check the readiness of command and control structures, combat launch crews, combat ship and strategic missile carrier crews to perform the assigned missions as well as the reliability of the strategic nuclear and non-nuclear forces.
The tasks set for the strategic deterrence forces exercise were completed in full, all the missiles hit the designated targets, thus confirming the specified characteristics, it stated.
In Munich, the United States Vice President Kamala Harris told the Security Conference that “We now receive reports of what appears to be provocations. And we see Russia spreading disinformation, lies, and propaganda.”
She said, “Russia continues to claim it is ready for talks while, at the same time, it narrows the avenues for diplomacy. Their actions simply do not match their words…And let me be clear. I can say with absolute certainty: If Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States, together with our Allies and partners, will impose significant and unprecedented economic costs.”
Earlier, US President Joe Biden said, the NATO forces will not be deployed to fight inside Ukraine, but they will defend every inch of NATO territory. He said Russian troops currently have Ukraine surrounded — from Belarus, along the Russian border with Ukraine, to the Black Sea in the south — and all of its border.
“You know, look, we have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week — in the coming days. We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people,” he said.
Today the G7 foreign ministers issued a joint statement saying Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified massing of military forces, the largest deployment on the European continent since the end of the Cold War is a challenge to global security and the international order”.
The G7 demanded Russia to implement the announced reduction of its military activities along Ukraine’s borders. “We have seen no evidence of this reduction. We will judge Russia by its deeds,” they said while stating that they had taken note of Russia’s latest announcements that it is willing to engage diplomatically.
“While we are ready to explore diplomatic solutions to address legitimate security concerns, Russia should be in no doubt that any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences, including financial and economic sanctions on a wide array of sectoral and individual targets that would impose severe and unprecedented costs on the Russian economy. We will take coordinated restrictive measures in case of such an event,” the G7 statement said and reaffirmed solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
– global bihari bureau
