Russia wants ‘respectful’ ties with US

I have ordered our Armed Forces to prepare to deploy across Europe next week, ensuring we are able to support our Nato allies on land, at sea and in the air… Ukraine must be free to choose its own future.UK

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Russia said yesterday it wants "mutually respectful" relations with the United States and denied posing a threat to Ukraine, as the UK said it was preparing fresh sanctions against Moscow.

Tensions have soared between Moscow and Washington after Western governments accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on its border with ex-Soviet Ukraine.

"We want good, equal, mutually respectful relations with the United States, like with every country in the world," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian TV yesterday.

Western leaders have scrambled to diffuse the crisis by reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin, while also vowing unprecedented sanctions should Moscow launch an attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the West to avoid stirring "panic" in the face of the Russian troop build-up, while his foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said it was important to remain "firm" in talks with Moscow.

Britain said it is preparing to unveil sanctions against Moscow that would target companies close to the Kremlin. "There will be nowhere to hide for Putin's oligarchs," UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said yesterday. Britain's PM Boris Johnson is considering the biggest possible offer to members of the Nato defence pact in the Nordics and Baltics, which would double troop numbers and send defensive weapons to Estonia, his office said.

"This package would send a clear message to the Kremlin – we will not tolerate their destabilising activity, and we will always stand with our Nato allies in the face of Russian hostility," Johnson said in a statement.

Russia, however, has repeatedly denied planning an attack and said it's not looking to start a war.