Ukraine

He made the remarks on Saturday in his first speech at the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC), which will last through Monday, reports Xinhua news agency. The conflict in Ukraine shows no sign of easing, and "there is a danger of another war in Europe", he said. Ukraine's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which has been a major concern for Russia, is not on the agenda either now or in the near future, he noted.

Putin on Saturday watched the exercise from the situation centre at the Kremlin together with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Xinhua news agency quoted an official statement as saying. Russia's Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Black Sea Fleets were involved in the drills, according to the statement. The Aerospace Forces launched Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.

"A military conflict is possible at any time... Leave the country in good time," The German Federal Foreign Office said in its security instructions on its official website, Xinhua news agency reported. Meanwhile, Lufthansa, the flag carrier and largest airline of Germany, announced that it will suspend its regular flights to Kiev and Odessa until the end of February. Certain flights will still operate Saturday and Sunday, in order to offer travel options to those who have already booked.

"Due to COVID19 pandemic and subsequent waves from 2020 there were no summits between Russia, India and China. There were hybrid meetings between foreign ministers in online format. Today the initiative to hold the RIC summit is upto China and we are ready to comprehensively support," Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a press briefing.

“India has been in touch with all concerned parties. It is our considered view that the issue can only be resolved through diplomatic dialogue… India’s interest is in finding a solution that can provide for immediate de-escalation of tensions taking into account the legitimate security interests of all countries and aimed towards securing long-term peace and stability in the region and beyond,” Ambassador Tirumurti said.

"The President of Belarus and I agreed that the key to restoring civil peace in Ukraine... is the implementation of the Minsk agreements," Putin said, Xinhua news agency reported. "All Kiev needs to do is sit down at the negotiating table with representatives of Donbas and agree on political, military, economic and humanitarian measures to end the conflict," he added, pointing out that there were growing tensions in the region.

Ukraine's ministry of defence says it has recorded 60 ceasefire violations by separatists in the Donbas region over the past 24 hours, with one soldier injured, according to its ministry of defence. Ukraine's commander of the Joint Forces, lieutenant general Alexander Pavlyuk, claimed Russia-backed troops have increased provocative actions in a bid to provoke Ukraine's armed forces to fire, the report said.

Washington ignored the "package nature" of the Russian proposals and deliberately chose some "convenient" topics, the ministry said in a written reaction to the recent US reply to the security guarantee treaty, Xinhua news agency reported. This approach together with rhetoric from US officials reinforces doubts that Washington is truly committed to rectifying the European security situation, the ministry said.

Russia's claim that it is moving troops away from the border with Ukraine is "false", a senior US official said, adding that 7,000 extra troops have arrived in recent days. The official also said that Russia could launch a "false" pretext to invade Ukraine "at any moment", the BBC reported. Moscow says it is moving troops away from the Ukrainian border after the completion of military exercises. But Western officials say they have seen no evidence to support the claim.

With India remaining neutral on the face-off between Washington and Moscow over the Russian troop build-up near the Ukraine border, US State Department spokesman Ned Price has issued a gentle reminder to New Delhi that it too faces a situation that parallels Kiev's. New Delhi is committed to a "rules-based" international order that applies to Europe as much as to the Indo-Pacific, Price said on Wednesday skirting a question on whether India fully supports the US position on the Ukraine-Russia situation.