France and US want proof of Russian troop withdrawal from Ukraine borders
French President Emmanuel Macron and his American counterpart Joe Biden agreed Tuesday on the need to verify Russian claims that it was pulling back some of the troops deployed on its borders with Ukraine.
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The two leaders spoke Tuesday, and affirmed their support for a diplomatic path forward in the Ukraine crisis, but also discussed their readiness to impose "severe consequences" on Russia for its military buildup
Earlier Tuesday, the Russian defence ministry said some of the 150,000 soldiers amassed at its borders with Ukraine as well as hardware were returning to bases at the end of planned exercises.
Western leaders have accused Moscow of positioning the troops in advance of a possible invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said "of course" did not want war, after a meeting Tuesday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow. He said he was willing to look for solutions with the West.
"For Europeans it is clear that lasting security cannot be achieved against Russia but only with Russia," said Scholz, who visited the region for his own attempt at diplomacy, after Macron's visit earlier this month.
Scholz welcomed the announced troop withdrawal as “a good sign”.
The US said it was waiting for proof of the withdrawal. Moscow released few details, and there was no immediate outside confirmation.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov Tuesday that Washington wanted to see proof of "verifiable, credible, meaningful de-escalation".
Escalation or de-escalation
Meanwhile, Ukraine said Tuesday evening that websites of its defence ministry and armed forces, as well as two banks had been hit by a cyberattack that could have Russian origins.
The bank sites were back online later Tuesday, after relatively low-level denial-of-service attacks, but the military sites remained inaccessible hours later.
For weeks, defence experts have predicted that a Russian invasion would be preceded by a cyber offensive.
Also on Tuesday Russian lawmakers voted to urge Putin to recognise two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as "sovereign and independent states", which would allow Russia to abandon the Minsk agreements peace plan for eastern Ukraine and potentially move in Russian troops
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that such a move would amount to "an attack without weapons" on the "unity and integrity of Ukraine".
(with wires)
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