The foreign secretary tells the Telegraph the West “must not be lulled into a false sense of security”.
Image source, Reuters
Tensions with Russia over Ukraine will “test our mettle”, Liz Truss has warned ahead of a trip to Kyiv.
Writing in the Telegraph, the foreign secretary said the West “must not be lulled into a false sense of security” after Russia claimed it had pulled back troops from the country’s border.
Its defence ministry said on Tuesday it was removing forces after the completion of military exercises.
But a senior US official said another 7,000 troops had arrived instead.
The claim was reiterated by UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who is in Brussels meeting with other Nato defence ministers.
Mr Wallace added that Russian forces were constructing a bridge from Belarus close to the border with Ukraine, adding that he would judge Russia “by their actions.”
Ms Truss said there was “currently no evidence” Russia was withdrawing, adding: “We must have no illusions that Russia could drag this out much longer in a brazen ploy to spend weeks more – if not months – subverting Ukraine and challenging Western unity.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the UK for its support in recent weeks, tweeting that he was “very grateful to Boris Johnson for the unity”, and urged the countries to “join forces to preserve peace”.
After visiting Kyiv for a meeting with her Ukranian counterpart, Ms Truss will then go to Poland, before heading to the Munich Security Conference on Saturday for meetings with allies.
Tensions have been growing between Russia and the West for weeks after President Putin amassed over 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine.
He insists Russia is not planning an invasion, but has demanded a guarantee from the West’s defence alliance, Nato, that it will not allow the former soviet state to join.
However, Nato insists it will keep its open door policy, and has been increasingly concerned an invasion is on the cards.
The organisation’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said there were “signs from Moscow that diplomacy could continue”, but said the West had “not seen any sign of withdrawal or de-escalation”.
He added: “Russia has yet again demonstrated a disregard for the principles underpinning European security and its ability and willingness to threaten the use of force in pursuit of its objectives.”
‘Real urgency’
The Nato chief’s comments were echoed by Armed Forces Minister James Heappey, who said the West had seen Russian troop movement towards the border continue, telling BBC Breakfast: “For all of the talk of de-escalation in Moscow, I am afraid what we are seeing is the opposite and we are very worried about it.”
He also said there was “still a diplomatic avenue to pursue” between President Putin, and both the US and European countries.
But the minister warned invasion was still a possibility, adding: “The consequence of what is going on at the moment could be a major modern army crosses a border and collides with another major modern army and tens of thousands of people – military and civilian – get killed or injured in the process.
“This is something of real urgency. We need to get the diplomatic track up and running [and] there is lots of efforts to make that so.
“The problem is part of the diplomatic process is to see Russian de-escalation and at the moment all we have heard is talk to de-escalation and we’ve seen… the opposite.”
The UK has no troops in Ukraine but it has increased numbers in neighbouring Estonia to the “high hundreds,” according to the Ministry of Defence, as well as sending additional helicopters, jets and warships to the region.
A further 1,000 British troops are also on standby to support Nato if called upon.