The United States has ordered the family members of its staff at the Belarusian embassy to leave the country after increasing Russian military activities near the border with Ukraine.
The Department of State on Monday advised its citizens not to travel to Belarus, one of the Russian allies in the region.
“Due to an increase in unusual and concerning Russian military activity near the border with Ukraine, US citizens located in or considering travel to Belarus should be aware that the situation is unpredictable and there is heightened tension in the region,” the department said in a travel advisory on its website.
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Russia has said it did not intend to invade Ukraine. But it continues to conduct maneuvers along the border and in Belarus, involving tens of thousands of soldiers.
It also accuses the West of instigating militaristic sentiments with the supply of weapons.
The US government received a written response to the letter it sent last week to Moscow to discuss the situation in Ukraine, a state department spokesperson told EFE on Monday.
The spokesperson, who requested anonymity and did not reveal the letter contents, said it would be unproductive to negotiate in public.
He said the US remains “fully” committed to dialog to resolve these issues amid continued consultations with allies and partners, including Ukraine.
Last week, Moscow described Washington and NATO’s response to its demands for security guarantees for de-escalation in Ukraine as confusing.
The security guarantees demanded by Russia include a limit to NATO’s expansion, especially in Ukraine and Georgia, the cessation of all military cooperation with the former Soviet republics, and the withdrawal of troops and weapons deployed in countries that entered the alliance after 1997.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is likely to speak with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on the telephone on Tuesday amid escalated tensions over the deployment of Russian soldiers – some 100,000 – near the border with Ukraine.
The White House believes there is a “distinct possibility” that Russia could invade Ukraine in February, although the Ukrainian government has downplayed the warning. EFE
© 2022 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc.
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One thing for sure no matter how it goes down joe will leave their ***e$ there just like what he did to Americans in Afghanistan. Then again if they are there for America under this administration they most likely do have good sense anyway.
How many americans, Other than embassy staff, are living IN Ukraine??
Belarus,,,from the word Beller which means to holler, not Bella which means Cute, beautiful, plus Rus short for Russian. Noting beautiful about a nation cowered by Putin with a perpetual history of submission to the Russians. We are now led by BellerBiden,,,,all holler no action, also about to submit to the Russians that hold so much Biden Family corruption over his head to keep him in line, just like Putin uses tanks to keep the Belarus in line, and to keep Joe and America on our knees, dependent upon Russian oil to heat our homes every bit as dependent upon them as Germany, both who could be enjoying American energy independence, but Biden chose instead to bow and scrape and not bite the Putin hand that has so wealthily fed him and Hunter in the past. Just how much such corruption will American abide? How long can the guilty hide from their crimes and PUNISHMENTS?
Biden sends his thousands, Putin Hundreds of thousands, just how do you think this one will end? Anyone who thinks it will end well, has less working brains cells than Joe. The fault dear Brutus lies not in our stars, but our votes, and THE PEOPLE who count them.
THEIR Own citizens, are now arming up and training, to defend it..