Russian forces stay in Belarus; Biden convenes NSC about invasion threat

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow released a security alert on Sunday, telling Americans to avoid crowds and have evacuation plans.

The embassy advised Americans to “review your personal security plans” and “have evacuation plans that do not rely on U.S. government assistance.”

It also cautioned Americans to “stay alert in locations frequented by tourists/Westerners” and to carry proper identification including a U.S. passport with a Russian visa.

The embassy, which cited “media sources” without giving specifics, said there had been “threats of attacks against shopping centers, railway and metro stations and other public gathering places in major urban areas,” including Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in areas of tension along the border with Ukraine, the embassy said. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a tweet, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asked whether the U.S. Embassy had “share[d] the data with Russian colleagues through partner channels.”

“And if not, how is one to understand all of this?” Zakharova said.

Hundreds of people gathered in several European cities and the United States in solidarity with Ukraine as the small nation braced for a potential invasion by its Russian neighbor.

On Sunday, hundreds of protesters waved Ukrainian, Polish and E.U. flags in Warsaw, with some holding signs that read “We Are With Ukraine” and “Hands Off Ukraine,” according to Agence France-Press and local media outlets.

In Madrid, the AFP reported that about 500 people demonstrated against Russian military aggression in Plaza de España, where participants also waved blue and yellow Ukrainian flags or wore them on their backs.

“We are worried for the future of our homeland and for what could happen to our families, but we are not afraid,” Yuriy Chopyk, a Ukrainian living in Spain who was at the protest told 20 Minutos, a local news site.

“Every Ukrainian is a soldier and will defend their land,” he added.

The protests echoed the pleas of Western leaders who in recent days have urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to call off troops near Ukraine.

Across the Atlantic, about 300 demonstrators gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Sunday afternoon.

Ukrainian Americans and other supporters draped flags over their shoulders or hoisted signs into the air, demanding that Putin withdraw his troops.

Some in the crowd were optimistic that the demonstration would also send a strong message to the White House and encourage President Biden to impose stricter sanctions against Russia. Others expressed fear for friends and relatives.

“It’s very important for our people to know they’re not alone in the world, that people are standing with them,” said Ruslan Semchuk, 49, who was born in Ukraine and has lived in the United States for almost two decades. He drove with a friend from Stamford, Conn., to attend Sunday’s demonstration.

A rare Sunday meeting of the National Security Council on the situation in Ukraine has ended, according to the White House. It lasted for a little over two hours, an NSC official said.

Vice President Harris called in from Air Force Two on her way back to Washington from Munich, where she attended the Munich Security Conference along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders over the weekend.

The White House posted a photo of the meeting, attended by officials including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA Director William J. Burns, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley. A placard for Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, was also pictured.

The meeting also included those involved with the sanctions and energy components of the Ukraine situation, including Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

A brief release sent after the meeting gave few details other than that the officials discussed the latest developments related to Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine.

Biden also spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday afternoon, according to the White House.

The president of the European Council on Sunday restated Brussels’s commitment to imposing new sanctions on Moscow if Russia moves ahead with an invasion, while also taking action to buoy financial assistance to Ukraine.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Charles Michel said the European Council plans to raise 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) for Ukraine and proposed to launch an international donors conference to protect the nation’s economic stability.

“One thing is certain: If there is further military aggression, we will react with massive sanctions,” he said. “The cost for Russia must be, and will be, severe.”

Then he added: “But let’s be frank, it will also be a cost for us, in Europe.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded stronger action from world leaders as the threat of an attack by Russia remains. He urged Western leaders Saturday to state publicly their plans for sanctions on Russia, saying that after a war begins, such declarations would be too late.

The European Council represents the governments of European Union member nations.

Michel’s remarks follow those of other European leaders and political groups in the European Parliament that condemned Russia’s military buildup around Ukraine, and as European diplomats carry out efforts at the Munich Security Conference to try to ease tensions.

Michel said Moscow’s efforts to sow division among European nations and across the world have created the opposite effect.

“They hoped to sow division, to weaken our alliance, to divide us. In fact, they have done exactly the opposite. Our unity has been cemented, both within the E.U. and across the Atlantic,” Michel said.

Video shows a group including journalists and Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy running from mortar fire in the nation’s Donetsk region, near a separatist-controlled area, on Saturday.

Footage filmed by Maryan Kushnir of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service captures the group — many dressed in camouflage garb and safety vests — running and taking cover on the ground as blasts are heard in Novoluhanske.

“Here! On the ground!” came shouts from the group. “Move it! Fire!”

According to Kushnir, mortars were fired first, then shells fell about 1,000 feet (300 meters) from the location of the minister and journalists.

There has been a sharp upswing in firing from the separatists’ side over the past few days. Separatist officials have accused Ukraine on the messaging app Telegram of firing on the territories that their forces control and said they had to respond accordingly. Ukrainian officials have denied attacks.

On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, said that what Ukraine has seen over the past few days stands in stark contrast to what Russian officials have claimed, citing intensifying shelling by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

She added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — who has accused the United States and its allies of “appeasement” and urged stronger, earlier actions against Russia — is mainly concerned with preserving their country and the lives of all Ukrainians.

“While preparing to defend our country, we’re using every possibility to still choose the diplomatic path and force Russia to choose the diplomatic path,” Markarova said. “We are calling not only on the aggressor, which is Russia, but also on all of our friends and allies to get together and use every opportunity to still deter Russia from invading.”

In frank terms, Markarova said there were many Ukrainians in and out of the country who were “ready to resist and fight for Ukraine,” and she emphasized that Russia’s aggressions would ultimately “not help their cause.”

“Whatever crimes they are willing to commit in order to kill some of us, it will not stop others” from fighting for Ukraine, she said.

In a contentious interview on “Face the Nation,” Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, continued to insist there were no plans for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite a massive buildup of their troops on three of Ukraine’s borders and despite U.S. intelligence that indicated those troops had received orders to proceed with a full-scale attack.

Antonov also decried NATO as “not a defensive alliance” and pushed back when “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan pointed out that Russia’s actions did not match its officials’ words.

“You’ll see that we did a lot … to withdraw our troops from various regions that are very close to [the] Baltic States,” Antonov said. “And nobody even said [to] us ‘thank you.’ ”

Asked Sunday if the United States would recognize Crimea and eastern Ukraine territories as part of Russia to avoid war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken definitively said “no.”

“No, hard stop. That is not up for negotiation?” CBS “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked him.

“That’s correct,” Blinken responded.

In an interview that also aired Sunday on “Face the Nation,” Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, insisted to Brennan that those were not the issues at hand. Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

“[The] issue of Crimea is solved. [The] issue of Crimea is closed for us,” Antonov said. “It’s a Russian territory and we don’t want even to discuss this issue at all.”

Antonov denied there were plans for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, though Brennan later noted that their interview had been taped before U.S. intelligence reports indicated that Russian troops, which have been amassed on three of Ukraine’s borders, had been ordered to proceed with a full-scale attack.

“We have our legitimate right to have our troops where we want on Russian territory,” Antonov said. “And I would like to say to you that we are not threatening to anybody.”

Six months ago, the transatlantic alliance was on shaky ground, with President Biden’s promise of a reinvigorated NATO under U.S. leadership severely undermined by the Afghanistan debacle and a foreign policy that seemed unready for prime time.

Today, Biden and his team have redeemed themselves in the eyes of many NATO allies, with a tough stance on Ukraine and the successful wrangling of the often-fractious alliance to support it.

Ukraine’s fate, and Russia’s future relationship with the West, remain uncertain. Biden has said he is convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin, with more than 150,000 troops and massive weaponry amassed on Ukraine’s borders, has decided to invade, despite the West’s offered carrot of negotiations over a new European security architecture to address his concerns if he withdraws, and the threatened stick of harsh sanctions and isolation if he does not.

But regardless of the outcome, officials, diplomats and experts have already begun charting the winners and losers.