The White House raised fresh warnings about Russia’s threat to Ukraine on the eve of a multilateral defense conference in Europe.
A senior administration official pushed back on reports of a partial pullback of Russian forces from Ukraine’s border, which came as Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the prospect of continuing diplomacy.
PUTIN MIGHT HAVE BLINKED, BUT RUSSIA CAN STILL ATTACK UKRAINE WITHOUT WARNING
“Yesterday, the Russian government said it was withdrawing troops from the border. They received a lot of attention for that claim both here and around the world. But we now know it was false,” a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday night.
The official said Moscow had increased its presence along the border with Ukraine “by as many as 7,000 troops, with some arriving as recently as today.”
“Every indication we have now is they mean only to publicly offer to talk and make claims about de-escalation while privately mobilizing for war,” he added.
The White House raised earlier warnings that Russia may seek to fabricate a pretext for invasion, including with claims about NATO aggression or provocations in occupied eastern Ukraine.
“We continue to receive indications that [Russia] could launch a false pretext at any moment to justify an invasion,” he added.
The Biden administration had warned Tuesday that it would wait to see whether some Russian soldiers would return to their bases as defense officials in Moscow indicated they would. Their numbers had risen in recent days, up to 150,000, President Joe Biden said. Amid the standoff, U.S. officials have warned that an invasion could come at any time.
The latest sirens follow weeks of tightly choreographed diplomacy and come as Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing to travel to Germany for the Munich Security Conference, where she will deliver a speech and meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders. There will be no official Russian delegation for the first time since 1999.
“There will be several dozen world leaders present, and all of them are going to be focused on this very pressing challenge,” a second senior administration official said.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also attending the conference, along with U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith and bipartisan lawmakers.
