President @ZelenskyyUa is asked why he travelled in person to Munich given the threat his country faces from Russia. He says he had a lot of meeting with other leaders. Also: "We are not panicking"
Asked about the aggressive use by the US of American intelligence to telegraph an assessment that Russia will invade Ukraine, @ZelenskyyUa criticises the destabilising impact on his country. He says: "The intelligence I trust is my (Ukrainian) intelligence"
Ukraine's President is v critical of a failure by western allies to impose sanctions on Russia before it invades - given the conviction of certain allies that Putin will attack in a few days. He said he urged one leader to apply sanctions now - not after the bombings starts
Ukraine's president @ZelenskyyUa - a former comedian - cracks a gag as his translation device fails during his Q&A session at #MSC2022. "Cyber attack" - he quips, getting a bit of laughter from the audience.
"Russians not here but they're here"
Asked what his interpretation is of Vladimir Putin's intent towards his country and whether he thinks the Russian President will invade, the Ukrainian President says: "I do not know what the President of the Russian Federation wants. That is why I propose to meet."
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NEW: The volume of Russian disinformation seeking to frame Ukraine as a threat to justify military action by Russia has more than doubled in the past week, western officials have said
UK Foreign Secretary @trussliz told #MCS2022 there'd been a 2-fold rise in 🇷🇺disinformation
1/
This includes a ramping up of output by Russian state-linked media of what western officials believe to be reports on false provocations blamed on the Ukrainian military in an attempt to create pretexts for Russia to invade.
2/
“This is an information operation co-ordinated by Russia,” a western official said.
“Unfortunately for them, they are not as good as they think they are,” the official said, describing some of the material as “shoddy fakes”.
3/
Sharing some thoughts on what could potentially happen in Ukraine from a long-time security/defence expert who asked to be anonymous but whose opinion is respected on topics like Russia's ways of war and strategic goals... 1/
“We may be reaching the point when [Russian President Vladimir] Putin considers that the Western position [on Ukraine/wider European security] will not now change sufficiently to enable him to get what he wants without invasion. 2/
“A US capitulation would still change this calculation, of course. A rapid deployment of US forces to Eastern Europe & a credible promise to defend Ukraine, coupled with credible threat of draconian sanctions on Russia could also change Putin’s calculation in a different way. 3/
BREAKING: Prime Minister @BorisJohnson signals UK will deploy more British forces to support NATO in Europe if Russia launches any new invasion of Ukraine. He tells MPs UK would "look to contribute to any new NATO deployments to protect our allies in Europe"
The PM doesn't think sending NATO troops into Ukraine is likely "in near term". He tells @Tobias_Ellwood: "Instinctively many people will yearn to send active, physical support in the form of NATO troops to Ukraine... I don't believe that to be a likely prospect in the near term"
NEW: @BorisJohnson says any increase in UK forces for NATO deployments would be in south-eastern Europe. He says: "What we are looking to do is potentially to increase our presence in the NATO south-eastern flank as well". UK already heads battle group in Estonia in the east
BREAKING: US puts 8,500 troops in the United States on a heightened alert to deploy to Europe if needed at a time of escalating tensions with Russia. @PentagonPresSec says there have been no deployment orders yet. "No mission assigned. This is about getting troops ready".
Pentagon signals it could also move US troops already in Europe if needed. Any deployment would be in support of #NATO. It wouldn't be to deploy to Ukraine. @PentagonPresSec says: "It proves how seriously the US takes our Article 5 commitment" (an attack on 1 = attack on all)
The units in the United States being put on a heightened alert to deploy in support of #NATO in Europe include combat, aviation, intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance & logistics
BREAKING: #NATO chief says it's "not realistic" to expect Russia-US/NATO talks this week to resolve Ukraine/Europe security crisis. But @jensstoltenberg hopes there's the will to "engage in a process" to prevent conflict. Aim is to agree on a "way forward... a series of meetings"
Here is the quote from #NATO chief @jensstoltenberg in full: "Of course I welcome the meeting that will take place today and later on this week in the NATO-Russia Council … and the @OSCE meeting...But I don’t think we can expect that these meetings will solve all the issues. 1/
"What we are hoping for is that we can agree on a way forward, that we can agree on a series of meetings, that we can agree on a process. 2/
BREAKING: #NATO chief @jensstoltenberg, referring to Russia's military build-up around Ukraine, says the "risk of conflict is real". He says it's positive that Russia will come to table to talk next week but says the alliance must be prepared for possibility the dialogue may fail
Describing Russia's troops presence in & around Ukraine, #NATO chief says "Russian military build up has not stopped. It continues." He lists "armoured units, artillery, combat-ready troops, electronic warfare equipment and a lot of different military capabilities"
In terms of where NATO is ready to engage with Russia, @jensstoltenberg says it's ready to talk about "balanced, verifiable" arms control. But he rejects any suggestion of meeting "1-sided" demands that could result in 2nd class NATO members that alliance isn't allowed to protect