Russia pulls some diplomatic staff out of Ukraine amid US warnings

Moscow: Russia said on Saturday it has pulled some of its diplomatic staff out of Ukraine for fear of “provocations” from Kyiv or its allies amid mounting warnings of a possible Russian invasion of its neighbour.

“Fearing possible provocations from the Kyiv regime or other countries we have indeed decided to optimise staffing at Russian missions in Ukraine,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a press release, responding to a media question on the subject.

Earlier, RIA Novosti, citing the mission, reported that Russia’s embassy was working as usual and there had been no decision on a partial evacuation. The Russian news service cited an unidentified person as saying employees were already leaving the country.

Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after meeting UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss that Russia may advise non-essential workers to leave diplomatic missions in Ukraine because it wasn’t clear “what kind of ideas our Anglo-Saxon colleagues have.”

Moscow has repeatedly denied it plans an invasion, as the US and its Nato allies warn a buildup of almost 130,000 Russian troops near the Ukrainian border may be preparation to do so, including via Belarus from the north. Some countries are advising their citizens to leave Ukraine.

The embassy of Saudi Arabia in Kyiv on Saturday urged its citizens to quickly get in touch to facilitate their departure from the country, state TV said.

Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab countries including Kuwait and the UAE, also called on their citizens to postpone any plans to visit Ukraine amid heightened tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.

Jordan also called on its nationals to leave Ukraine in light of the "current developments", the foreign ministry said in a statement. It also called on citizens to postpone any plans to visit the country.

Russia’s navy meanwhile launched large-scale exercises in the Black Sea even as Moscow dismissed as “hysteria” a US warning that a Russian attack on Ukraine could begin within days.

“Over 30 vessels from the Black Sea fleet took to the sea from Sebastopol and Novorossiysk in accordance with the exercise plan,” the Russian defence ministry said Saturday morning.

“The aim of the exercise is to defend the coast of the Crimea peninsula, the bases of the forces of the Black Sea fleet as well as the country’s economic sector ... from possible military threats,” the ministry added.

The move comes after the US on Friday gave its starkest warning yet of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that it could take place “any day now.”

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that such an attack would likely begin with air strikes and missile attacks and urged Americans in Ukraine to leave the country “as soon as possible.”

A number of EU countries have also urged their nationals to leave Ukraine.

Moscow poured scorn on the US warnings. “The White House’s hysteria is more revealing than ever. The Anglo-Saxons need a war. At all cost. The provocations, disinformation and the threats are their favourite method for resolving their own problems,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

Russia’s ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told Newsweek magazine that the US warnings were “alarmist” and repeated that his country was “not going to attack anyone.”

Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops along Ukraine’s borders in recent months, raising fears that it is planning to invade its former Soviet neighbour, eight years after it seized the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine.

Russia has denied any such plans while making a series of demands of the West, including a ban on Ukraine joining the Western defence alliance NATO.

In the midst of the furore, Russia last month announced a serries of naval exercises in the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea as well as in “waters and seas adjacent to Russian territory.”

The exercises involve over 140 warships and support vessels, over 60 aircraft, 1,000 pieces of military hardware and over 10,000 troops in total, the defence ministry said Saturday.

Tensions have been running high in the Black Sea in recent years, with Moscow accusing Ukraine’s pro-Western government and Western powers of threatening its security in waters off Crimea.

In June last year, Russian forces fired warning shots at a British destroyer that it accused of entering its waters, claims denied by Britain.

As well as the naval exercises, large-scale Russian military drills are underway with the country’s authoritarian ally Belarus, which lies just north of Ukraine and which also borders the European Union.