On Monday, the Kremlin described the relations between Moscow and Washington as having reached "rock bottom," despite an increase in bilateral dialogue between the two countries recently. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that there are specific channels for dialogue, and among the positives is the communication between President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, who spoke over the phone on Saturday. However, other aspects of the relations remain tense.
The Russian news agency reported Peskov saying in an interview, "The leaders of the two countries are in contact, and there is dialogue on other fronts. This is a positive development because, you know, just two years ago there was no dialogue, and there were no such communications at all." He added, "But regarding the rest of the aspects, unfortunately, we can only talk about negatives in bilateral relations. We have reached a very low level. It is, in fact, at rock bottom," according to Reuters.
On Sunday, the United States stated that Russia could invade Ukraine at any moment and may create a sudden pretext for an attack, affirming its commitment to defend "every inch" of NATO territory. Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine but has repeatedly denied any intention to invade its neighbor, accusing the West of acting "hysterically."
Russia is also conducting joint military exercises with Belarus, Ukraine's northern neighbor, and the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Su-30 fighter jets conducted joint patrols along the border between Russia and Belarus on Monday. The newspaper Izvestia, citing military sources, stated that Russia will also send a group of ships armed with cruise missiles and hypersonic missiles to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The Russian Black Sea Fleet reported on Saturday that more than 30 ships commenced exercises near the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014, as part of a wide range of exercises from the Pacific to the Atlantic involving all of its fleets in January and February.
