UK Defence Secretary in Moscow to ease tensions

Moscow, February 11

Britain’s Defence Secretary visited Moscow on Friday for talks on easing tensions amid massive Russian war games near Ukraine.

Ben Wallace’s trip comes a day after British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss held talks in Moscow, urging Russia to pull back over 1,00,000 troops amassed near Ukraine and warning that attacking its neighbour would “have massive consequences and carry severe costs”.

Russia says it has no plans to invade Ukraine but wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet countries out of NATO. It also wants NATO to refrain from deploying weapons there and roll back alliance forces from eastern Europe. In an interview on Thursday, US President Joe Biden repeated his warning that any Americans still in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible. — AP