MOSCOW: The Kremlin said Tuesday the pullback of some Russian forces from Ukraine’s borders was planned but stressed Russia would continue to move troops across the country as it saw fit.
“We have always said that after the exercises are over … troops would return to their permanent bases. There’s nothing new here. This is a usual process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Earlier Tuesday, Russia said it was pulling back some of its forces near the Ukrainian border to their bases, in what would be the first major step towards de-escalation in weeks of crisis with the West.
The move came amid an intense diplomatic effort to avert a feared Russian invasion of its pro-Western neighbor, possibly this week, and after Moscow amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders.
Speaking with reporters Tuesday, Peskov rejected Western claims that Russia was planning to attack Ukraine.
“This is nothing but a totally unprecedented campaign to provoke tensions,” he said.
Peskov took particular issue with moves by a number of Western countries, including the United States and Canada, to relocate their embassies away from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
“This is some sort of ostentatious hysteria, which of course is not based on anything,” he said.
Instead of ramping up tensions, Russia and the West should discuss each other’s security concerns in earnest, he added.
“This is what President Putin is proposing. This is what President Putin wants,” Peskov said.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Putin he saw a “chance” to continue security talks with the West.
Meanwhile, he PM of Japan Fumio Kishida spoke Tuesday with Ukraine’s president to back the country’s territorial integrity in the face of a possible Russian invasion and urge a diplomatic resolution to the stand-off.
The call came as the Kremlin said it had pulled some forces back from Ukraine’s borders, and President Vladimir Putin began talks in Moscow with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Kishida “reiterated my consistent support for the integrity of sovereignty and territory (of Ukraine)” in the conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Japan is also ready to provide assistance to Ukraine in the form of loans of at least $100 million, Kishida told the Ukrainian leader.
The Japanese prime minister expressed “grave concern” about the situation and urged a diplomatic solution, while warning that if Russia invaded “we would respond appropriately, including sanctions, in cooperation with the G7 and the international community”.
He declined to be drawn on what Zelensky had said during the call, which came as Ukraine’s foreign minister said he believed a further Russian escalation had been prevented.
Kishida spoke earlier with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, pledging to “continue close coordination for de-escalation”.
On Monday, a statement by finance ministers from the G7 group of most developed nations warned they were ready to impose sanctions that would “have massive and immediate consequences on the Russian economy” in the event of an invasion.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Tuesday declined to specify what form sanctions might take but said the measures would be implemented multilaterally.
Japan’s defense minister also warned Tuesday of an increased Russian naval presence in the Sea of Japan and the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, which he suggested was intended “to show off the capability to operate in the East and West, along with the Russian military’s recent movement around Ukraine”.
Japan and Russia have complex relations and did not sign a peace treaty after World War II because of a lingering dispute over four islands claimed by Moscow in the closing days of the conflict.
The islands, off the northern coast of Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, are known as the southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.
Tokyo has shown support for its allies in Europe by offering liquefied natural gas imports to help allay fears of a supply crunch if tensions around Ukraine disrupt energy supplies.
Last week, Japan announced it had diverted multiple gas shipments to Europe, with delivery expected this month and more on the way in March.
No details on the amount of gas were given, but in their call Tuesday, von der Leyen expressed “appreciation” for the move and Kishida pledged to continue cooperation to ensure energy security.
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