From our newsroom:
The secretary of President Vladimir Putin's Security Council says Moscow will "assess possible threats" to Russia the new U.S. national security strategy.
Nikolai Patrushev told reporters in Moscow on February 11 that Putin's Security Council is "thoroughly examining" the White House national security strategy unveiled on February 6.
"Concrete conclusions and scenario predictions will be made based on the results of this work," Patrushev said.
In a shift from the previous U.S. strategy, the new White House document portrays Russia as a regional bully and a threat to international stability.
It says Washington is "in lockstep with our European allies" and "enforcing tough sanctions on Russia to impose costs and deter future aggression" in response to the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine.
In an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper published on February 11, Patrushev said that the U.S. wants to draw ointo an international military conflict and use the events in Ukraine to "dismember Russia."
Based on reporting by TASS, Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Interfax
A spokesman for Merkel, Steffen Seibert, has said today's meeting "offers a glimmer of hope, but nothing more."
Seibert said it was "uncertain whether an outcome can be reached, but despite all the uncertainty, it is worth trying in the interest of the suffering people in eastern Ukraine."
He said the talks were expected to start at 6:30 p.m. local time in Minsk (3:30 p.m. UTC).
The head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov, speaking today while visiting Ukrainian army positions near Mariupol:
"Units of the National Guard, with the special Azov battalion in the vanguard, have broken the defense of Russian terrorist groups and launched an offensive."
"We have pushed the frontier, the frontline, the contact line, the line of fighting by 20 kilometers away from our city, protecting it from artillery shelling."
The latest Daily Vertical, wherein @PowerVertical's Brian Whitmore asks what might be in store for Ukraine.
