Ukraine, the view from Havana

Take it for what it’s worth, but in the “fog of war”, with media and “pundits” having settled on a simple “good guy-bad guy” narrative, and our information in neutral Mexico (whose only role in all this is happening to chair the UN Security Council right now), and having more access to US filtered news than that filtered thru Russia, what came before tends to be erased. My translations from “Rusia-Ucrania: Cronología de un nuevo capítulo de tensiones (+ Infografía)” Prensa Latina, 26 Feb 2022:

Havana, Feb 24 (Prensa Latina) The history of Russia and Ukraine dates back to the Middle Ages, both countries part of the ancient Slavic state from the end of the 9th century to the middle of the 13th century.

Although the two nations took different historical paths with two languages ​​and cultures emerging, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire and later the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until December 1991.

The latest chapter in their diplomatic relations since that time opened with movements by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into Eastern Europe.

NATO increased its forces in the region and currently has 13,000 soldiers, 200 tanks, 400 armored vehicles and three dozen planes and helicopters stationed in the region. IN Ukraine, it has 10 thousand “instructors”.

In early December 2021, the largest shipment of US military equipment in its history, including helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, infantry fighting tanks (IFVs) and artillery for NATO’s annual Atlantic exercis, were unloaded in the Greek port of Alexandroupolis.

A chronology of the main events of recent months follows

December 21, 2021 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported that 120 US mercenaries delivered chemical weapons in the Ukrainian-controlled cities of Avdeevka and Krasny Liman for use in a possible attack that could be blamed on Russia.

January 10, 2022 Negotiations were held in Geneva, Switzerland between Russia and the United States, in which Washington put on the table possibly coercive demands Moscow .

January 12, 2022 Meetings between Russia and NATO member countries began in Brussels, Belgium to discuss mutual concerns about security in Europe.

January 12, 2022 Russia made clear it was essential to obtain legally binding guarantees of non-expansion from NATO and that there not be any deployment near its borders of strike forces that could hit targets on its territory. It added that routine military exercises would continue as normal.

January 13, 2022 The last of the meetings on the proposals for security guarantees with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded in Vienna, Austria.

January 14, 2022 White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby accused Russia, without presenting any evidence, of preparing an operation as a pretext for an eventual invasion of Ukraine.

January 16, 2022 Moscow reiterated that there wereno Russian military personnel in the Donbass region, or in Ukraine in general, and clarified that its forces were on their own territory.

January 19, 2022 Russia reiterated that NATO expansion in the region was unacceptable. The statement came from deputy foreign minister, Sergey Riabkov, who added that his country needed legal guarantees in the form of a bilateral treaty with the United States and a multilateral agreement with NATO.

January 20, 2022 Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, María Zajárova, denounced that the United Kingdom for sending military transport planes with 460 tones of weapons to Ukraine. Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine moved security forces, supplies and construction equipment rto the Belarus border.

January 22, 2022. The United States handed over 90 tons of weapons to Ukraine and a further 80 tons the following day, part of an aid package equivalent to 200 million dollars, amid repeated complaints from Russia about the danger the military build-up posed to its own territory.

January 23, 2022 After threatening trade sanctions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged on CNN that imposing new coercive measures on Russia could affect current deterrence efforts.

January 24, 2022 Moscow reported constant process of exercises, maneuvers and military construction was on-going. United States President, Joe Biden, and other government officials of his government intensified their propaganda campaign to label Russia an aggressor, despite denials from Moscow.

January 24, 2022 The US State Department ordered relatives of employees at its embassy in Kiev to leave Ukraine.

January 25, 2022. Croatia President, Zoran Milanovic, says that in the event of a conflict between Russia and Ukraine his country with withdrawal its troops from NATO, since he does not want to be involved in the military build-up in Europe.

February 1, 2022 Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hold telephone conversations to follow up on Moscow’s security proposals, regarding the acceptance of new NATO members among neighboring countries.

February 1, 2022 Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov confirms delivery of the sixth batch of US weapons to Kiev since January 22: a total of 500 tons of US defense equipment.

February 2, 2022 Joe Biden, approves the deployment some three thousand soldiers to Poland and Romania , in addition to the thousand already in Germany.

February 4, 2022 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the United States and its allies of worsening the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and expresses his willingness to mediate a diplomatic solution to the tensions.

5 February 2022 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron call for peaceful solutions.

February 7, 2022 Macron travels to Russia and holds talks lasting over five hours with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about the security guarantees required by the Kremlin from NATO.

February 8, 2022 Within the framework of the Weimar Triangle (Germany, France, and Poland), the presidents of France and Poland (Andrzej Duda) and the German Federal Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, met in Berlin to agree on common positions on cooperation issues.

February 8, 2022 US soldiers arrive in Romania as part of the continued military deployment of the North American nation in the region.

February 8, 2022 US Senator Jeanne Shaheen announces that the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee was close to reaching an agreement between Democrats and Republicans on a bill for coercive actions against Moscow.

February 11, 2022 During a visit to Hungary, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ratified the deployment of new combat groups starting next month in Eastern Europe.

February 11, 2022 The United States approved the deployment of five thousand soldiers in Poland.

February 12, 2022 Putin and Biden hold phone conversations, as to Defense Ministers, Shoigú and Lloyd Austin.

February 14, 2022 The Group of Seven (G7) threatens Russia with heavy economic and financial sanctions if its troops invade Ukraine.

February 14, 2022 UK announces that it will send a “small number” of troops to Lithuania.

February 14, 2022 About 350 German troops and 100 military vehicles move to Lithuania while Scholz traveled to Ukraine.

February 15, 2022 Putin and Scholz discussed the Ukraine situation, security guarantees and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

February 16, 2022 Former United States Ambassador Jack F. Matlock described the campaign unleashed by Washington against Russia as false.

February 16, 2022 Moscow ends of military exercises on the Crimean peninsula.

February 17, 2022 The United Nations (UN) Security Council holds a session on the seventh anniversary of the Minsk Agreements, in which the conflict in Donbass is discussed, at the proposal of Russia.

February 18, 2022 The drastic increase in shelling with prohibited weapons inside the Donbass region, violating the Minsk agreements, is reported.

February 21, 2022 The Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces eliminates five infiltrators from a group of saboteurs who crossed into the country from Ukrainian territory.

February 21, 2022 President Putin signs the decree establishing Russian recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and announced that friendship, cooperation and assistance agreements will also be approved between Moscow and those territories.

February 24, 2022 Putin announces the decision to launch a special military operation in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. The president pointed out that his country in acting in its own defense, in the face of aggression from the West and the threat of NATO expansion.