Russia: Do Not Want War But Will Not Allow Interests To Be Attacked

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated "If it depends on the Russian Federation, there will be no war" but also said "We do not want wars, but we will not allow our interests to be rudely attacked, we will not allow our interests to be ignored

Regarding the U.S. written response in comparison to the NATO response, Russia sated "Against the background of the paper that was sent to us from NATO, the American response looks almost like a model for diplomatic decency".

In regards to NATO's written response Russia said that it was "so ideological" that he was "a little ashamed of those who wrote these texts".

Russian President Vladimir Putin will reportedly be deciding on how to respond to the proposals, and that Russia expects to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken within the next few weeks.

During the Phone call between U.S. President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, both CNN and CBS News has reported that their sources said that Zelenskyy told Biden to tone down the rhetoric about an imminent invasion being 'virtually certain' and that Kyiv might be 'sacked'.

The White House however rejected the claims saying that they are 'completely false'. A National Security Council Spokesperson stated in a tweet that Biden instead told the Ukrainian President that there was a 'distinct possibility' of an invasion in February, and said that 'reports of anything more or different than that are completely false'.

CNN has since removed Jake Tapper's report on the Zelenskyy-Biden phone call from social media after conflicting reports calling it out as fake news began coming out by both Ukrainian officials and U.S. government officials.

Although Russia stated that they do not want war, Russia has just announced that a new battalion of S-400 Triumph surface-to-air missile system regiments have gone on combat alert in Moscow.

The new battalion of S-400 Triumph surface-to-air missile systems went on combat duty in the air defense regiment 'stationed in the town of Dmitrov, near Moscow' according to Russia's Defense Ministry who reported it on Friday.

"On Friday, January 28, the combat teams of a surface-to-air missile battalion of the Dmitrov anti-aircraft missile regiment operating within the Aerospace Force’s air defense formation stationed in the Moscow Region, which received a new battalion set of S-400 ‘Triumf’ systems for service, went on combat alert to provide air defense for Moscow and Russia’s Central Industrial Region".

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that "The new S-400 ‘Triumf’ surface-to-air missile systems arrived at their permanent deployment site in the Moscow Region in late December after they successfully accomplished initial missile firings at the Kapustin Yar proving range in the Astrakhan Region".

"The combat teams prepared the surface-to-air missile systems and sites for air defense combat alert in the assigned responsibility are" the statement said.

Russian state news agency TASS has stated that the S-400 Triumph, which is reportedly called SA-21 Growler by NATO went into service in 2007 and is the latest long and medium range surface to air missile system.

TASS stated that "It is designed to destroy strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons and can also be used against ground installations. The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of up to 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km under intensive enemy fire and jamming".

Although Russia did not give a reason as to why they were putting the Triumph battalion on combat alert, Russian state news agency TASS published an article saying that Belarus' security chief has stated that NATO is 'practicing nuclear missile sorties near Union State borders'.

TASS quoted State Secretary of Security Council of Belarus, Alexander Volfovich saying "A breach of international norms and elementary rules of good neighborly relations by neighboring countries is already turning into an alarming trend, Alexander Volfovich stated".

TASS said that Volfovich stated that the NATO Air Force is practicing sorties with cruise missiles, including those with nuclear warheads near the borders of the Russia-Belarus 'Union-State'.

"The head of state drew attention to intensified flights by US strategic bombers near the borders of the Union State" TASS quoted Volfovich saying. "In our assessments, this means that the NATO Air Force is practicing employing cruise missiles, including those with nuclear warheads".

TASS quoted the Belarusian security chief as saying that there are "about 30,000 troops have been deployed to areas in Poland and the Baltic states bordering on Belarus. Also, over 10,000 NATO troops are present on the territory of these states".

"These actions by our neighbors cause legitimate questions about the compliance with the 2011 Vienna document and bilateral agreements on additional confidence-building and security measures".

"We have to state that a breach of international norms and elementary rules of good neighborly relations by neighboring countries is already turning into an alarming trend" the Belarusian security chief reportedly stated.

"In this situation, Belarus is acting adequately to the latest developments. In particular, Belarus and Russia are holding a surprise combat readiness inspection of the Union State’s response forces as part of strategic deterrence measures" he reportedly stated.

In another article by TASS dated January 27th it states that Russia is proposing that the United States return American nuclear weapons from NATO countries stateside.

The article states "According to Vladimir Yermakov, "currently there are about 200 American nuclear air bombs of the B61 family" in five non-nuclear NATO countries".

It says that the Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control Vladimir Yermakov said in an interview with TASS that "Moscow proposed to Washington to return all American nuclear weapons from NATO countries to US territory in the context of reviewing security guarantees".

"We insist that NATO’s ‘joint nuclear missions’ should be stopped immediately, all the American nuclear weapons be returned to US national territory and the infrastructure that allows their rapid deployment should be eliminated. This aspect is one of the elements of the package of measures proposed by us to Washington in the context of considering the issues of security guarantees" Yermakov reportedly stated.

TASS stated that according to Yermakov "currently there are about 200 American nuclear air bombs of the B61 family" in five non-nuclear NATO countries, and stated that NATO is capable of rapidly deploying nuclear weapons able to reach strategic targets on Russian territory. .

"[NATO countries] also retain the infrastructure ensuring rapid deployment of these [nuclear] weapons capable of reaching Russian territory and striking a wide range of targets, including strategic ones" TASS reported him as saying.

It also said that NATO engages non-nuclear countries in training for using American nuclear weapons against Russia saying, "Interaction between NATO member countries in joint nuclear planning is underway. NATO ‘joint nuclear missions’ take place with non-nuclear alliance members involved in training on the use of American nuclear weapons against us".

He reportedly stated that the United States is modernizing its nuclear arsenal with a view of the increased applicability of such weapons in real conditions, above all, in Europe.

"As for modernization, the US is consistently implementing a campaign on the renovation of practically all the components of the nuclear arsenal. The B61 air bombs in their newest B61-12 modification will have a decreased or variable yield but increased precision. This raises the question, which containment scenarios justify such ‘calibration?’ This clearly means betting on a ‘higher applicability’ of such weapons under real conditions, first of all, in Europe" Yermakov reportedly stated.

Although Russia says that it does not want to attack Ukraine, maps of Russian forces show that Russia has Ukraine surrounded by troops, tanks and artillery stationed near Ukraine's border.

Either Russia is indeed worried about the security of their borders, or they are positioning the forces necessary to carry out a full invasion on Ukraine.

Many in the intelligence community have stated that Russia may be waiting for the ground to freeze to carry out an invasion on Ukraine so that their tanks won't get stuck in the mud when they roll them out to Ukraine to invade. Thus, some reports have said that Russia may be waiting until February to carry out an attack, when the ground reportedly freezes.

Conjecture aside, we may not know for certain what Russia's plans are until the Kremlin makes their move. We do not even know if Putin himself has made up his own mind on what actions he will, or will not be taking regarding the Ukrainian conflict.