SENKIVKA- UKRAINE: Members of the Ukrainian Border Guard patrol along the Ukrainian border fence at the Three Sisters border crossing between, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus on Feb.
14, 2022, in Senkivka, Ukraine. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) Asked about the announcement, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that Russia holds military drills "on its own territory and according to its own plans, they start, go on and end as planned." The minister said such drills always adhered to a schedule — regardless of "who thinks what and who gets hysterical about it, who is deploying real informational terrorism."Ukraine's leaders expressed skepticism about the pullback."Russia constantly makes various statements," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. "That’s why we have the rule: We won’t believe when we hear, we’ll believe when we see.
When we see troops pulling out, we’ll believe in de-escalation."European leaders have been scrambling to try to head off a new war on their continent, after several tense weeks that have left Europeans feeling caught between Russia and the U.S., and further pushed up household energy prices because of Europe's dependence on Russian gas.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a day after sitting down with Ukraine's leader in Kyiv.
In his opening remarks in the Kremlin, Scholz addressed the Ukraine tensions but also noted Germany's economic ties with Russia — which complicate Western efforts to agree on how to punish Russia in case of an invasion.Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau of Poland, one of Russia's most strident European critics, met in Moscow on Tuesday with Lavrov, and they discussed ways to use the Organization for Security.