Russia calls increased US deployments ‘destructive step’ | First Thing

The US decision to deploy more than 3,000 US troops in Germany, Poland and Romania will make it harder to reach a compromise over Ukraine, Russia's deputy foreign minister said

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Good morning.

Yesterday Joe Biden announced that the US will deploy more than 3,000 US troops in Germany, Poland and Romania as Russia continues to build up its forces around Ukraine. Russia's deputy foreign minister has since responded, calling the move a destructive step".

Russia had been moving 30,000 combat troops and modern weapons to Belarus over the last few days, Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said today. It is Moscow's biggest military deployment to the country since the end of the cold war.

This comes as the west continues to deploy a flurry of diplomatic efforts - yesterday Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom prime minister, warned Vladimir Putin in a phone call that he will make a tragic miscalculation" if he invades Ukraine.

France's Emmanuel Macron was set to speak to Putin on Wednesday night as well, their third conversation in less than a week, while the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he would meet Putin in Moscow soon.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoan will fly to Moscow to offer himself as a mediator between Ukraine and Putin. A wild card of Nato diplomacy, Turkey was criticized by both Russia and Ukraine last year - Putin was unhappy when Turkey sold drones to the Ukrainian army, while Ukrainian politicians have been angered by a gas pipeline that takes gas from Russia to Turkey.