U.S. warns allies of possible Russian invasion as troops amass near Ukraine
American intelligence officials are warning allies that there is a short window of time to prevent Russia from taking military action in Ukraine, pushing European countries to work with the United States to develop a package of economic and military measures to deter Moscow, according to American and European officials.
Russia has not yet decided what it intends to do with the troops it has amassed near Ukraine, American officials said, but the buildup is being taken seriously and the United States is not assuming it is a bluff.
Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, traveled to Brussels this week to brief NATO ambassadors about American intelligence on the situation and a possible Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Ms. Haines’s trip was long planned and covered a variety issues, but the growing concerns over Russia were among the short-term threats discussed, according to officials briefed on them.
The United States has also been sharing intelligence with Ukraine. And on Friday, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with Lt. Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s military, to discuss Russia’s “concerning activity in the area,” the Joint Staff said in a statement.
American and British intelligence are increasingly convinced that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is considering military action to take control of a larger swath of Ukraine, or to destabilize the country enough to usher in a more pro-Moscow government. [Continue reading…]
The Wall Street Journal reports:
As the USS Porter entered the final hours of a transit across the Black Sea last week, an announcement came over the ship’s speaker system, portending a potential threat. A Russian military helicopter was minutes away, set to join a Russian frigate and cruiser that had been shadowing the ship for days.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had just warned that U.S. ships in the Black Sea now were in his nation’s crosshairs. “This is a serious challenge for us,” he said.
On the Porter, a destroyer, sailors quickly filled the deck, some with long lenses mounted on cameras, all looking up to see how close the aircraft would get. With military discipline, sailors called out distances as they monitored and measured.
Tensions were already escalating between Washington and Moscow. Russia had deployed ground forces along Ukraine’s border, raising fears within the Biden administration of a new invasion, despite Russian denials. The troop movements came alongside a migrant standoff on the European Union’s border with Belarus, a Moscow ally. And a Russian missile test recently spewed debris into space, posing a danger to space travelers aboard the International Space Station.
The heightened animosity has drawn attention to what had been close but relatively predictable encounters in the Black Sea between U.S. and allied ships and the Russian forces watching them.
The fear on the USS Porter was that tensions on the ground could lead to miscalculations at sea. U.S. officials have accused Russians of engaging in reckless operations several times in recent years. After the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, a Russian fighter made several close passes near a U.S. destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, as it transited the Black Sea. The Pentagon denounced the Russian maneuvers as “provocative.” [Continue reading…]