莫斯科——由于与西方在北约联盟扩张问题上的紧张争端以及对俄罗斯准备入侵的担忧，都柏林对海上演习表示担忧，俄罗斯表示将重新部署在爱尔兰沿海的海上演习乌克兰。
2月3日至8日的演习将在爱尔兰西南部240公里(150英里)外的国际水域举行，但在爱尔兰专属经济区内。爱尔兰是由27个国家组成的欧盟的成员，但不是北约的成员。
爱尔兰外交部长西蒙·柯文尼本周反对战争游戏，称“在乌克兰正在发生的情况下，现在不是增加军事活动和紧张局势的时候。事实上，如果你愿意的话，他们选择在爱尔兰海岸外的欧盟西部边境这样做，这在我们看来是完全不受欢迎的。”
俄罗斯驻爱尔兰大使馆周六发布了塞维多夫·菲拉托夫大使关于脸书的一封信，称演习将被转移到爱尔兰经济区之外，“目的是不阻碍捕鱼活动。”
这一决定是一个罕见的让步，因为围绕俄罗斯在乌克兰边境附近集结约10万军队的紧张局势不断升级，并要求北约承诺绝不允许乌克兰加入联盟，停止在俄罗斯边境附近部署北约武器，并从东欧撤军。
美国和北约本周正式拒绝了这些要求，尽管华盛顿概述了可能进行讨论的领域，并表示有希望找到避免战争的方法。
俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京没有对西方的回应发表公开评论。外交部长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫说，达成协议的机会很小，尽管他也说俄罗斯不想要战争。
美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀周五表示，普京可以动用他的任何力量夺取乌克兰城市和“重要领土”，或者实施“胁迫行为或挑衅性政治行为”，比如承认乌克兰内部的分裂领土。
自2014年俄罗斯从乌克兰吞并克里米亚半岛后，乌克兰东部的两块领土一直处于俄罗斯支持的叛军控制之下。
一名俄罗斯议员鼓励乌克兰这些地区的居民加入俄罗斯军队，这表明莫斯科正在继续努力尽可能整合这些领土。维克托·沃多拉特斯基周六表示，乌克兰东部叛军控制地区的居民害怕乌克兰军队的袭击，持有俄罗斯护照的人将受到俄罗斯军队的欢迎。
“如果居住在(领土)的俄罗斯公民想加入俄罗斯武装部队，罗斯托夫地区军事委员会将对他们进行登记和征兵，”议会与邻国关系委员会副主席沃多拉特斯基告诉国家通讯社塔斯社。
俄罗斯已经向叛军控制地区的50多万人发放了护照。沃多拉特斯基说，这些新兵将在俄罗斯服役——但这为他们加入任何未来的入侵部队留下了选择余地。
乔·拜登总统政府的一名高级官员表示，美国欢迎拉夫罗夫关于俄罗斯不希望战争的言论，“但这需要用行动来支持。我们需要看到俄罗斯将他们部署的一些部队撤出乌克兰边境，并采取其他缓和紧张局势的措施。”这名官员要求匿名，因为他没有被授权公开讲话。
拉夫罗夫表示，美国建议双方可以讨论限制中程导弹的部署、限制军事演习以及防止军舰和飞机之间事故的规则。他说，俄罗斯几年前就提议讨论这些问题，但华盛顿及其盟友从未接受。
他还表示，这些问题对于俄罗斯对北约的主要担忧来说是次要的。他表示，国际协议称，一个国家的安全不能以牺牲其他国家的安全为代价，并表示他将致函西方国家，要求他们解释为何未能遵守这一承诺。
华盛顿警告莫斯科，如果它入侵乌克兰，将受到毁灭性的制裁，包括针对俄罗斯高级官员和关键经济部门的惩罚。拉夫罗夫表示，莫斯科已警告华盛顿，制裁将等同于彻底断绝关系。
与此同时，北约表示，它正在加强在波罗的海地区的威慑。
俄罗斯发起了军事演习，参与演习的有俄罗斯西南部的摩托化步兵和炮兵部队，波罗的海加里宁格勒的战机，黑海和北极的数十艘军舰。俄罗斯军队也在白俄罗斯进行联合演习，这让西方担心莫斯科可能从白俄罗斯北部对乌克兰发动攻击。乌克兰首都距离白俄罗斯边境只有75公里(46英里)。
Russia moves naval exercise that rattled EU member Ireland
MOSCOW -- Russia says it will relocate naval exercises off the coast of Ireland after Dublin raised concerns about them amid a tense dispute with the West over expansion of the NATO alliance and fears that Russia is preparing to invadeUkraine.
The Feb. 3-8 exercises were to be held 240 kilometers (150 miles) off southwestern Ireland — in international waters but within Ireland’s exclusive economic zone. Ireland is a member of the 27-nation European Union but not a member of NATO.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney this week objected to the war games, saying “This isn’t a time to increase military activity and tension in the context of what’s happening with and in Ukraine. The fact that they are choosing to do it on the western borders, if you like, of the EU, off the Irish coast, is something that in our view is simply not welcome.”
Russia’s embassy in Ireland on Saturday posted a letter on Facebook from Ambassador Yuriy Filatov saying the exercises would be relocated outside of the Irish economic zone ”with the aim not to hinder fishing activities.”
The decision was a rare concession amid the escalating tensions surrounding Russia's massing of an estimated 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and its demands that NATO promise never to allow Ukraine to join the alliance, stop the deployment of NATO weapons near Russian borders and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe.
The U.S. and NATO formally rejected those demands this week, although Washington outlined areas where discussions are possible, offering hope that there could be a way to avoid war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made no public remarks about the Western response. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it leaves little chance for reaching agreement, though he also says Russia does not want war.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday that Putin could use any portion of his force to seize Ukrainian cities and “significant territories” or to carry out “coercive acts or provocative political acts” like the recognition of breakaway territories inside Ukraine.
Two territories in eastern Ukraine have been under the control of Russia-backed rebels since 2014, after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
A Russian lawmaker is encouraging residents of those areas of Ukraine to join the Russian army, a sign that Moscow is continuing to try to integrate those territories as much as possible. Viktor Vodolatsky said Saturday that residents in rebels-held areas in eastern Ukraine fear assaults by Ukrainian forces and that those who hold Russian passports would be welcomed in the Russian military.
“If Russian citizens residing in the (territories) want to join the Russian Armed Forces, the Rostov regional military commissariat will register and draft them,” Vodolatsky, deputy chairman of parliament committee on relations with neighbors, told the state news agency Tass.
Russia has granted passports to more than 500,000 people in the rebel-held territories. Vodolatsky said the recruits would serve in Russia — but that leaves open the option that they could join any future invasion force.
A senior official in President Joe Biden's administration said the U.S. welcomed Lavrov’s comments that Russia does not want war, “but this needs to be backed up with action. We need to see Russia pulling some of the troops that they have deployed away from the Ukrainian border and taking other de-escalatory steps.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly.
Lavrov has said the U.S. suggested the two sides could talk about limits on the deployment of intermediate-range missiles, restrictions on military drills and rules to prevent accidents between warships and aircraft. He said the Russians proposed discussing those issues years ago, but Washington and its allies never took them up on it.
He also said those issues are secondary to Russia’s main concerns about NATO. He said international agreements say the security of one nation must not come at the expense of others, and said he would send letters to his Western counterparts asking them to explain their failure to respect that pledge.
Washington has warned Moscow of devastating sanctions if it invades Ukraine, including penalties targeting top Russian officials and key economic sectors. Lavrov said Moscow had warned Washington that sanctions would amount to a complete severing of ties.
NATO, meanwhile, said it was bolstering its deterrence in the Baltic Sea region.
Russia has launched military drills involving motorized infantry and artillery units in southwestern Russia, warplanes in Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, and dozens of warships in the Black Sea and the Arctic. Russian troops are also in Belarus for joint drills, raising Western fears that Moscow could stage an attack on Ukraine from the north from Belarus. The Ukrainian capital is only 75 kilometers (46 miles) from the border with Belarus.
