US-Russia Facing for Ukraine at UN Security Council

The Security Council is almost no chance of adopting any official stance, given that Russia has a veto right, as well as its ties to other permanent members, including China.

China's ambassador to the UN said on Monday that Beijing does not see the gathering of Russian troops at the border with Ukraine as a threat.

But the rise by the United States of the issue of Russian troops at the UN's highest forum enables both sides to face a global scene in their battle for international opinion.

The gathering of over 100,000 Russian troops near the Ukrainian border has prompted ever stronger warnings from the West that Moscow may be preparing to intervene.

Russia has demanded that NATO never allow Ukraine to join the alliance, stop placing NATO weapons near Russian borders, and withdraw its forces from Eastern Europe, requests that have been officially rejected by Washington and the NATO alliance.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and State Secretary Antony Blinken failed to make any progress at the meeting they had several days ago in Geneva.

They are expected to hold a telephone conversation Tuesday.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that the “gathering of Russian forces could be a Moscow effort to exert pressure and “psychological pressure”, as well as sow panic.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to visit Ukraine on Tuesday, and on Monday he is expected to speak with President Putin, to call for “to withdraw” from plans he has for Ukraine, said in a statement issued by the British prime minister's office. Prime Minister Johnson has said he is considering the possibility of sending hundreds of British soldiers to NATO countries in the Baltic region. / VOA