/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/eluniverso/MCEOZDWMRNF65MFOKC7FVX22VE.webp "The US estimates that Russia has up to 190,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine")
The US ambassador to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, defines it as “the most significant military mobilization in Europe since the Second World War”.
The US ambassador to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, assured this Friday in Vienna that his government estimates that Russia has deployed between 169,000 and 190,000 soldiers around Ukraine, compared to 100,000 on January 30.
This deployment, described by the US representative as “the most significant military mobilization in Europe since World War II” , includes Russian troops in Belarus, Russia and the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Carpenter presented these assessments during a meeting convened at the request of Ukraine in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to which Russia decided not to attend today, just like a similar meeting last Tuesday.
Under the Vienna Document, a risk reduction mechanism, any of the 57 OSCE member countries can ask for explanations about unusual military movements near their borders.
The mechanism stipulates that in the event of a concentration of more than 9,000 soldiers, the country in question must inform the OSCE; while if it is more than 13,000 troops, it should even invite international observers, which Russia has never done so far.
On the other hand, Carpenter pointed out that in addition to military exercises on land near Ukraine, the Russian army announced a large naval exercise in the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Arctic.
“In the Black Sea alone, the exercise involves more than 30 ships and we estimate that several amphibious landing ships were transferred from the Northern and Baltic fleets to the Black Sea to increase their forces there,” the ambassador warned.
Carpenter further rejected Russia’s alleged attempts to create a pretext to justify an invasion of Ukraine.
“We have information from multiple sources detailing Russia’s efforts to fabricate alleged ‘Ukrainian provocations’ and to form a public narrative to justify a Russian invasion,” the US ambassador said.
Carpenter recalled that these alleged “escalations” by the Ukrainian side do not exist and are not reflected in the daily reports of the OSCE special observation mission (SMM) in eastern Ukraine.
In addition, the US representative proposed to Russia several measures to reduce tensions, including inviting observers to areas with troop concentrations, including helicopter verification flights.
In addition, Carpenter recommended that Russia return to “an open and full dialogue on modernizing and improving military transparency, which is clearly lacking at the moment.” (I)