The Minsk Package is a set of agreements reached in 2014 and 2015 among representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian separatists, and the multinational Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe for the de-escalating of the situation in Ukraine. Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France have been engaged in a process of diplomacy to deal with the situation that is known as the Normandy Format. Tirumurti said: “Flowing from the recently concluded meeting in Paris under the Normandy Format, we also welcome the unconditional observance of the July 2020 ceasefire (in Donbas) and reaffirmation of Minsk Agreements as the basis of work under the ongoing Normandy format.” UN Under Secretary General Rosemary Di Carlo told the Council: “We remain greatly concerned that, even as these efforts continue, tensions keep escalating amid a dangerous military build-up in the heart of Europe.”

She noted that there are reports of over 100,000 Russian troops and heavy weaponry positioned along the border with Ukraine and troops and weaponry being sent to Belarus ahead of large-scale joint military exercises in February on the borders with Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic nations. “NATO members are also reportedly planning additional deployments in Eastern European member states, and NATO has advised that 8,500 troops are now on high alert,” she added. US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned: “We will be decisive, swift, and united should Russia further invade Ukraine.” But she also said later that the US has no plans to “weaken” Russia.

“Russia’s aggression today not only threatens Ukraine. It also threatens Europe. It threatens the international order this body is charged with upholding,” she said. Thomas-Greenfield called the Russian deployments the largest mobilisation of troops in Europe in decades and said: “We cannot just ‘wait and see’. It is crucial that this Council address the risk that their aggressive and destabilising behaviour poses across the globe.” She mentioned the annexation of Crimea by Russia and its backing for Ukrainian separatists. Russia’s Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia said that Moscow has “categorically been rejecting” plans for an invasion of Ukraine. There is “no threat of a planned invasion into Ukraine, from the lips of any Russian politician or public figure”, he said. The troop deployment was in his own country, he said, but the US acts as if an invasion has taken place, he said.