Russia’s top diplomat on Tuesday mocked Western intelligence for naming the date of a Russian invasion as Moscow announced a partial drawdown of troops, reports our Moscow correspondent Nataliya Vasilyeva.
“February 15, 2022, will go down in history as the day when Western war propaganda failed,” Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry said on social media on Tuesday. “They were humiliated and defeated without a single shot.” Ms Zakharova’s comments came out around the time when Russia’s defence ministry said it was pulling back some of its troops from near Ukraine that allegedly were there for military drills. Russia has built up an unprecedented assault force near Ukraine in recent months but the Kremlin has deflected calls to de-escalate, insisting that Russia troops were free whatever they washed to do within the Russian borders and accused the West of whipping up the war frenzy. Asked about the reports, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told LBC Radio she had not seen it and would need to see more details, but added: “The Russians have claimed that they have no plans for an invasion, but we will need to see a full scale removal of troops to show that is true.” NN: This is not over until Russia stands down… If they stand down…..