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Jan. 31 (UPI) — The United Nations Security Council for the first time on Monday will meet, at the request of the United States, to address the Russian military buildup near its border with Ukraine and the impact of the crisis on Europe.
The meeting comes after months of Moscow’s steady troop buildup alone its eastern border with Ukraine and fears that Moscow is planning an invasion of the former Soviet republic.
The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. EST on Monday.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who will attend Monday’s meeting, has said that Russia will be given a chance to explain itself to the 15-country Security Council about the troop movement. The Kremlin, in the meantime, has mocked the meeting, saying it’s unjustified because it has no plans to invade Ukraine.
Thomas-Greenfield said she does not expect Russian diplomats to be cooperative at the meeting Monday.
“They will distract from our unified voices,” Thomas-Greenfield said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.
“Our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves. We’re going to go in the room prepared to listen to them, but we’re not going to be distracted by their propaganda.”
U.S. and Western officials have long been concerned about a possible invasion, perhaps along similar lines as Moscow’s annexation of Crimea eight years ago.
“We know that the attack is possible,” Thomas-Greenfield added. “You don’t amass 100,000 troops if you don’t have intentions to use them.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov disparaged the Security Council meeting over Moscow’s troop buildup, saying that Russia has no plans to invade Ukraine. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Moscow’s first deputy permanent representative to the United States, posted a message to Twitter downplaying the Security Council meeting — and suggested that the United States and other Western nations are more worried about Russia’s troop buildup than Ukraine is.
“How thoughtful of our U.S. friends. Russia doesn’t worry about the attack,” Polyanskiy wrote. “Ukraine doesn’t worry either (we are allegedly ‘encouraging them not to’), only U.S. is vigilant. Looks like according to [Thomas-Greenfield], SC is a club of worried people with U.S. telling them what to worry about.”
The Russian military announced on Monday that troops along its southern and western military bases near Ukraine will return to their barracks after exercises.
Diplomatic efforts are expected to continue as well. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to engage in more talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week.
Blinken and U.S. President Joe Biden have said previously that the United States will respond forcefully if Russian forces cross over into Ukraine, along with leveling more crippling economic sanctions against Moscow.