Russian President Vladimir Putin began his annual address to the nation in Moscow at 12:05 a.m. local time (9:05 a.m. GMT), nearly a year after the launch of his military offensive in Ukraine. “I speak at a difficult and key moment for Russia, in a period of cardinal changes all over the world,” said the Russian president in the introduction of his address to the country’s political elite and military personnel who fought in Ukraine. . He promised to “carefully” continue his offensive in Ukraine.
“To ensure the security of our country, to eliminate threats from a neo-Nazi regime existing in Ukraine since the 2014 coup, it was decided to carry out a special military operation. And we will settle step by step, carefully and methodically the goals that lie before us,” he said.
“The elites of the West do not hide their objective: to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, that is to say to finish with us once and for all”, he hammered, in a speech intervening three days before the first anniversary of the Russian offensive.
Joe Biden in Poland
US President Joe Biden arrived in Poland by train on Monday February 20 at 8:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. French time). This is the continuation of his surprise trip started the day before in Kiev, which he left by train to go to Przemysl, in the south-east of Poland, then to take a plane which brought him to Warsaw. He is due to meet this Tuesday, February 21, the Polish leaders, who are among the main European supporters of kyiv. He will also deliver a highly anticipated speech.
Speeches in the form of a duel, which promise two radically opposed points of view on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. “A year later, Kiev is standing. Democracy is standing,” he said at the Mariinsky Palace (the official residence of the Ukrainian president) the day before during his visit to Ukraine. On Tuesday, from the Royal Castle in Warsaw, he “will make it clear that the United States will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Joe Biden will then meet on Wednesday with the leaders of the group of “Nine from Bucharest”, from the former communist bloc that joined NATO, which are Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. He must also speak by telephone with the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy, the White House said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected in Washington on March 3.
In Kiev on Monday February 20, the American president promised “unwavering” support for his Ukrainian ally, as well as new armaments and $500 million in additional assistance, a few days before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the expected deliveries of American Abrams tanks, announced a few weeks ago after long procrastination and insisted on the needs of his army for artillery ammunition with a range of more than 100 kilometers.
Italian Prime Minister in kyiv
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Kiev on Tuesday morning, her spokesperson said, without specifying at this stage the program of her visit and in particular a possible meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Italian leader, who arrived by train from Poland, had promised that she would visit Ukraine before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion on February 24.
According to the Italian media, Giorgia Meloni must first go to Boutcha and Irpin before meeting Volodymyr Zelensky.
Monday evening, Giorgia Meloni spoke by telephone with US President Joe Biden, who had just returned to Poland after a surprise visit to kyiv. “The two leaders discussed their ongoing close coordination on support for Ukraine, including assistance on security, economic and humanitarian issues,” according to the Italian government.
Under pressure, China calls for dialogue
Accused for several days of wanting to support Russia in its attack on Ukraine, China called on Tuesday to “promote dialogue” in Ukraine. She said she was “very worried” about the conflict which was “escalating and even getting out of control”. This war is a delicate issue for Beijing, because of its strong diplomatic and economic ties for several years with Moscow, consolidated by the common interest of counterbalancing Washington. Officially neutral, China calls for respecting the sovereignty of states, including Ukraine, while urging the international community to take into account Moscow’s security concerns.
On Saturday February 18, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he feared that China was considering supplying arms to Russia. Allegations denied by Beijing. “We ask the countries concerned to stop throwing oil on the fire as soon as possible and to stop blaming China,” replied the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, in particular with reference to Western appeals made to Beijing. in order to put pressure on Moscow.
On Ukraine, Beijing said last week that it wanted to make public soon a proposal to find “a political solution” to the war. The head of Chinese diplomacy is expected in Russia on Tuesday, the last leg of a European tour which has already taken him to France, Italy, Hungary and Germany. The Kremlin said on Monday it could meet President Vladimir Putin during his visit, according to Russian news agency Tass. Western pressure is mounting on China, which has never publicly supported or criticized the Russian offensive, while repeatedly expressing its support for Moscow in the face of Western sanctions.
“Worst security situation since the Cold War”
The current security situation in the Nordic countries and in Europe is “the most serious” since the beginning of the 1980s, according to Swedish military intelligence. “Sweden’s security risks have increased and threats to Sweden have become broader and more complex,” the Swedish Armed Forces state in the annual Military Security and Intelligence Report.
Unprecedented fact, Sweden, as well as neighboring Finland, have broken with the policy of military non-alignment to which they have been faithful for decades, and declared themselves in May 2022 candidates for NATO membership at the following the Russian offensive in Ukraine. “Today we have a situation of conflict and confrontation between Russia and the West, which is likely to worsen,” said director of military intelligence and security Lena Hallin in the report.
The latter warns against an increase in the threat against Sweden represented by the activities of the Russian intelligence services. This threat relates to both intelligence gathering by spies and cyberattacks or the use of other technologies. Both Russia and China have “the ability to conduct complex operations in an attempt to influence Sweden’s decisions in the political and economic fields”, underlines the document.
Russia at the 2022 Olympics?
The question of Russia’s presence at the world’s biggest sporting event is still unresolved. A coalition of around thirty countries asked the IOC for “clarifications” on the possibility of participation under conditions of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Paris Olympics in 2024, in a letter sent Monday to the Olympic body. “We are very concerned about the feasibility for Russian and Belarusian Olympic athletes to participate as neutrals when they are financed and supported by their states”, explains the letter from a conference held on February 11. France, Great Britain, Sweden, Poland but also the United States and Canada were present at this conference, during which Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky spoke.
“We firmly believe, given that the situation has not changed regarding Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, that there is no reason to reverse the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes decided by the CIO,” the coalition mailer explains. “Until these fundamental issues, as well as the cruel lack of clarity and concrete details on the definition of neutrality, are addressed, we do not accept that Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to return to competition. they.
The latter have been banned from most international competitions since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, the international federations having followed the “recommendation” in this sense of the IOC. But the IOC has qualified since its position and at the end of January proposed a roadmap to organize the return of these athletes under a neutral flag, provided that they had “not actively supported the war in Ukraine”.
The UN wants to “exit the conflict”
The UN General Assembly is expected to adopt “by a very large majority” on Friday, on the occasion of one year of the war in Ukraine, a resolution which will take the form of a “call to end the conflict”, according to AFP sources within French diplomacy. The General Assembly of 193 member states had already adopted by 141 votes, in March 2022, a resolution demanding “that Russia immediately stop using force against Ukraine”. Last October, another resolution collected 143 votes to condemn the “illegal annexations” of Ukrainian territories.