Britain’s defense secretary visited Moscow on Friday for talks aimed at de-escalating tensions to coincide with a massive Russian military exercise near Ukraine.

Ben Wallace’s trip to the Russian capital comes a day after that of Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who urged Russia to withdraw the more than 100,000 soldiers it accumulates near the Ukrainian border and warned it to attack the neighboring country It would have “enormous consequences and carry serious costs”.

Russia maintains that it has no plans to enter Ukraine, but wants the West to keep the neighboring country and other former Soviet republics out of NATO. Moscow also asks that the alliance not deploy weapons there and that it withdraw its troops from Eastern Europe, demands flatly rejected by the West.

In an interview with NBC News television on Thursday, US President Joe Biden repeated his warning to Americans still in Ukraine to leave immediately.

“We are not dealing with a terrorist organization. We are dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation and things could quickly get out of hand,” he said.

Asked if there was a scenario where he would send troops to rescue his countrymen, Biden said: “There isn’t. When the Americans and Russians start shooting at each other it’s a world war.”

Amid rising tensions, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Thursday that the Ukrainian crisis had become “the most dangerous moment” for Europe in decades.

NATO has stepped up its military deployment to bolster its eastern flank by sending US soldiers to Poland and Romania.

The Russian deployment at the gates of Ukraine includes the presence of troops in Belarus , an ally of Moscow, for huge joint maneuvers with live ammunition. They entered a decisive phase on Thursday, which will continue until February 20. Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, is about 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of the Belarusian border.

In a further step to mobilize its troops, Russia has sent six amphibious assault ships to the Black Sea, increasing its ability to land sailors on the coast.

Moscow has announced extensive exercises in the Black and Azov seas in the coming days and closed large areas to commercial shipping, prompting a strong protest from Kiev on Thursday.

Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when their Kremlin-affiliated president was ousted after popular protests. Moscow responded by annexing the Crimean peninsula and backing the separatist insurgency in the east, where fighting has left more than 14,000 dead.

The 2015 ceasefire, brokered by France and Germany, helped stem large-scale fighting, but skirmishes have continued and efforts to reach a political settlement are stalled. Foreign policy advisers from the four countries held a nearly nine-hour meeting in Berlin on Thursday to try to revive the pact, but made no progress.

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