US vows ‘swift, severe response’ if Russia invades Ukraine

As tensions at the Russian-Ukraine border escalate, the US has issued a warning to citizens abroad as it orders the families of diplomats in Kiev to come home.

The United States has ordered the families of its diplomats in the Ukrainian capital Kiev to leave the country “due to the continued threat of Russian military action,” the State Department has announced.

Washington has also authorised the “voluntary” departure of its embassy employees and urged US citizens in Ukraine to “consider departing now using commercial or other privately available transportation options.” The State Department announcement comes amid tensions between Russia and the West over European security and concerns over a possible invasion by Moscow of Ukraine.

The order comes hours after London accused Moscow of looking to install a Kremlin-friendly president in Kiev.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded to the crisis on Monday, warning a Russian invasion of Ukraine will “trigger a swift, severe and united response” from the United States and Europe,

Mr Blinken made the comments to CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, as tensions mount over Russia’s troop build-up on Ukraine’s borders and diplomatic talks bring little relief.

“If a single additional Russian force goes into Ukraine in an aggressive way, that would trigger a swift, a severe and a united response from us and from Europe,” he said.

“There are other things that Russia could do that fall short of actually sending additional forces into Ukraine, and again, across the board, we’re prepared with Europe for a swift, and calibrated and very united response. We’re looking at every single scenario, preparing for every single one.”

"If a single additional Russian force goes into Ukraine in an aggressive way... that would trigger a swift, severe and a united response from us and from Europe," says Secretary of State Antony Blinken. #CNNSOTUpic.twitter.com/UspjxGos9O

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) January 23, 2022

He backed US President Joe Biden’s claim that should Russian President Vladimir Putin lead an invasion of Ukraine, it would be the most consequential development for global security since World War II.

“What’s at stake here are some very basic principles of international relations that have been established since two World Wars and the Cold War that have kept peace and security,” Mr Blinken said.

“Principles like, one nation can’t go in by force and change the borders of another … like one nation can’t dictate to another its policies, its choices including with whom it will associate … a principle like the fact you cannot now in the 21st century purport to exert a sphere of influence to try to subjugate your neighbours to your will.”

Alluding to Beijing’s growing aggression towards Taiwan and in the South China Sea, Mr Blinken said: “If we allow those things to go forward and stand with impunity, then that opens a Pandora’s box that countries well beyond Europe will see and maybe decide to act on.”

US President Joe Biden. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

UK warns of Russian plot

Meanwhile, Ukraine on Sunday vowed to counter destabilising Russian influence over the country’s political and economic spheres, after London accused Moscow of looking to install a Kremlin-friendly president in Kiev.

The UK alleged this weekend it had information Moscow was “looking to install a pro-Russian leader” in Ukraine, naming several former politicians in Kiev it alleged harboured ties with Russian intelligence.

The claims are adding to tensions between Russia and the West over European security.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said the revelations were part and parcel of Russia’s approach towards Ukraine, and that Kiev would push back.

“Our state will continue its policy of dismantling any oligarchic or political structures that could be working to destabilise Ukraine [or] aid [Russia],” he said in written comments to AFP.

The Kremlin had for some time followed a formula of selecting individuals in business or politics and then using those people to “promote Russia’s interests”, according to Mr Podolyak.

“This British information clearly follows along in this logical chain,” he said.

London said it had seen evidence that several former Ukrainian politicians had maintained links with Russian intelligence services, and that former MP Yevgen Murayev was being considered as a potential leader.

Some of those in contact with Russian intelligence officers were “currently involved in the planning for an attack on Ukraine”, the UK Foreign Office said in a statement, though it did not release details of the evidence.

Ukrainian civilians in a Kiev Territorial Defence unit. Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

‘New leadership’ needed

The US said the revelations of the plot were “deeply concerning”.

Moscow dismissed them as “disinformation”, and urged London to “stop spreading nonsense”. On Sunday, Mr Murayev wrote on social media that ex-Soviet Ukraine was in need of sweeping political reforms and a new head of state.

“The Ukrainian people need rule of law, peace, sound and pragmatic economic and social policies, and new political leaders,” he wrote.

Mr Murayev lost his seat in parliament when his party failed to win 5 per cent of the vote in the 2019 election. He is understood to be the owner of a television channel that was closed last year on allegations it was airing pro-Russia propaganda.

Troops mass on border

Concerns in Ukraine have been building as tens of thousands of Russian troops mass on Ukraine’s border, along with an arsenal of tanks, fighting vehicles, artillery and missiles.

Current fears of a Russian invasion stem from Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and the capture by pro-Kremlin separatists of two self-proclaimed breakaway republics in Ukraine’s east.

More than 13,000 people have died in the fighting between government forces and the pro-Russian rebels.

Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Picture: Alex Brandon/AFP

Blinken defends German commitment

Last week, Mr Blinken was in urgent talks with Washington’s allies in Ukraine and then Berlin, before a meeting on Friday in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

There was no breakthrough, but the US has said it will this week send a written record of its concerns over Moscow’s behaviour, as well as outlining America’s proposals to solve the current Russia/Ukraine border crisis.

Meanwhile, Mr Blinken said on Sunday said he had “no doubts” Germany was maintaining a united front with NATO on the Ukraine crisis, after Berlin faced pressure to toughen its stance on the Russian threat to Ukraine.

Germany’s navy chief Achim Schoenbach resigned late Saturday in the diplomatic fallout of his comments to a think tank a day earlier.

Mr Schoenbach had said it was “nonsense” to think Russia was about to march into Ukraine and that Mr Putin deserved respect.

That prompted Kiev to summon Germany’s ambassador to protest, with tensions between the countries already high over Berlin’s decision not to supply weapons to Kiev.

“I can tell you that the Germans very much share our concerns and are resolute and being determined to respond – and to respond swiftly, effectively and in a united way,” Mr Blinken told NBC television.

“I have no doubts about that.”