On February 15, local time, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that it had withdrawn some Russian troops from the vicinity of southern and western Ukraine and returned to their military positions. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Konashenkov said earlier on the same day that Russian troops had completed joint military exercises in Belarus, near the Ukrainian border, and some Russian troops would return to their bases.
When asked on the same day about the Russian president’s reaction to the Western reports about the Russian invasion plan, Peskov, the Russian president’s press secretary, relayed Putin’s joke and said: “When will the war start, hasn’t it been announced already?”
“February 15, 2022 will go down in history as the day the Western propaganda war failed. (Russia) was humiliated and destroyed without firing a shot.” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zakharova On the 15th, a post on social media ridiculed that some Western media had previously claimed that Russia would invade Ukraine on this day.
According to reports, Russian troops have withdrawn 10,000 of about “130,000 soldiers” from the Ukrainian border area. But at the same time, Western officials have warned that some Russian combat units are “moving into forward positions.”
In a brief appearance at the White House, Biden insisted that a Russian “invasion” of Ukraine was still possible and that Americans should follow his previous orders to leave Ukraine. He also said about 150,000 Russian soldiers continued to “encircle Ukraine,” without providing any evidence of that.
In addition, Biden said that the withdrawal of Russian troops “would be nice, but we haven’t confirmed it yet.” According to US media sources, after the speech, Biden did not answer any questions.
The news of Russia’s troop withdrawal was interpreted by the media as a easing of the situation in Russia and Ukraine, but British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss said on the 15th, “The Russians claim that they have no ‘invasion’ plan, but we need to see A full withdrawal of troops will only prove the truth of this claim.”
On the same day, at the press conference after the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Polish Foreign Minister Raou, who holds the rotating presidency of the OSCE, despite Lavrov’s many comments on issues related to the regional situation, Polish journalists still raised the question of “Whether Russia will Invasion of Ukraine”. In this regard, Lavrov said to Rau: “Your reporters are not very smart.” Subsequently, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova commented on the social platform: “Because Western partners cannot fully understand the meaning of language, in the Answering questions requires active use of facial expressions, nods and winks. Learn from Lavrov.”
The news of Russia’s withdrawal of troops caused an immediate rebound in the recently tense global market. The three major U.S. stock index futures rose by about 1%; European stock markets also rebounded significantly. International oil prices have continued to fall from seven-year highs. As of press time, WTI crude oil and Brent crude oil have both fallen by more than 3% to US$92.30/barrel and US$93.58/barrel, respectively.
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