The White House has changed the wording of its comments on the Ukraine crisis so it no longer uses the term “imminent” to refer to a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. This was announced on Wednesday, February 2, by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. At the same time, Washington does not exclude that it can happen “at any moment.” The expert explained the reason for the sudden change in rhetoric.
“We stopped using the word ‘imminent’ because it sent a signal that we didn’t intend to send, that we knew that President Putin had made a decision,” Psaki told reporters.
However, the American authorities do not know if the Russian leader actually received him, the White House press secretary added. At the same time, Washington still believes that the Russian Federation has deployed its troops in such a way that it can “at any moment” invade the territory of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Psaki, who refused the wording “imminent aggression”, was ridiculed by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
“Highly-like (from the English “very likely.” -“ MK ” ), cuckoos flew in to replace foxes and chickens,” she wrote in her Telegram.
Thus, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled another phrase of Psaki. Thus, the White House press secretary pointed out that Russia is acting “like a fox on the roof of a chicken coop”, which speaks of its fear of chickens.
“And when you see President Putin screaming fear of Ukraine and Ukrainians, it should not be interpreted as a declaration of fact,” she said. We know who the fox is in this case . We have seen a troop buildup on the border.”
Jen Psaki also called Moscow an “aggressor” that has concentrated 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine, which makes it impossible to compare the positions of Russia and the United States in the current crisis. According to her, Washington, together with NATO allies, is working to improve their security, since the alliance is a defensive bloc.
Accordingly, the word “imminent” in relation to the possible invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine is gone so as not to create such dissonance. Already Moscow draws attention to the fact that Kiev itself does not agree with such a definition. Therefore, the American side, after a telephone conversation, is making its own adjustments here.”
At the same time, according to the expert, this factor is unlikely to somehow affect the decisions that the United States makes regarding Russia in Ukraine.
“The American administration makes decisions on this issue solely on the basis of its information and its interpretation, ” the political scientist continues. – In public space, Washington does not want to disagree with the President of Ukraine. That is why such verbal changes will not affect American politics. At least almost simultaneously with this, the Americans announced that they were sending additional forces to Europe.”
We will remind, earlier the Pentagon announced that the United States is sending troops to Romania, Poland and Germany against the background of the escalation of the crisis around Ukraine. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby noted that the additional forces would be located in allied European states on a temporary basis and with the consent of the host parties.
“President Biden has made clear that the United States will respond to the growing threat to the security and stability of Europe, ” Kirby said. – Our commitment to the Fifth Article (of the NATO Charter. – “MK” ) and collective defense remains completely unshakable. As part of this commitment, and in preparation for a range of possible scenarios, the US is sending additional forces to Romania, Poland, and the FRG.”
In turn, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, commenting on the decision to send troops to Europe, stressed that it was made as a result of consultations that were held over the past few weeks. According to her, this is not connected with any individual recent events.
Thus, as part of the strengthening of the military presence in Eastern Europe, a squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the US Army and numbering about a thousand military personnel will be redeployed from Germany to Romania. They will join the 900 US soldiers already on rotation in the country. Another 2,000 troops will be sent from the United States to Poland and Germany.
Moreover, the Pentagon was informed that in addition to the troops leaving for Europe, 8.5 thousand military personnel in the United States itself will be put on high alert.
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