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US says Russia may create pretext to attack Ukraine

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3 years ago

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US says Russia may create pretext to attack Ukraine

The United States said on Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time and could create a surprise pretext for an attack, as it reaffirmed its commitment to defending “every inch” of NATO territory.
Russia has assembled more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, which is not part of the Atlantic military alliance, and Washington has repeatedly said an invasion is imminent while maintaining diplomatic channels that have so far failed to defuse the crisis.
Fearing an imminent Russian invasion, Ukraine is training an army of civilian soldiers to bolster its defenses.
Moscow denies any such plans and accuses the West of “hysteria”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Russia to de-escalate the situation ahead of Monday’s trip to Kiev and Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin, warning of sanctions if Moscow does invade .

A German official said Berlin was not expecting “concrete results” but diplomacy was important.

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In Washington, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jack Sullivan, said the intrusion could begin “any day now.”

“We can’t predict this day perfectly, but we’ve been saying we’re in the window for a while,” Sullivan told CNN.

U.S. officials said they could not confirm reports that U.S. intelligence agencies suggested Russia planned an incursion on Wednesday.
Sullivan said Washington will continue to share with the world what it has learned to deny Moscow the opportunity to launch an unexpected “false flag” operation that could serve as a pretext for an attack.

It will also “defend every inch of NATO … we think Russia fully understands the message,” Sullivan added in a separate CBS interview.

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The White House said after the conference call that Biden spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Zelensky on Sunday, and they agreed on the importance of continuing to seek diplomacy and deterrence in response to a Russian military buildup.

Zelensky’s office said he invited Biden to visit Ukraine soon. The White House declined to comment.

A UK government spokesman agreed with the US assessment that an invasion could happen “at any time” and said the UK was working on a package of military support and economic aid for Ukraine that would be announced in the coming days. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to visit Europe later this week to garner support to end the standoff with Russia.

Putin wants assurances from the United States and NATO, including preventing Ukraine from joining NATO, avoiding the deployment of missiles near Russia’s borders, and reducing NATO’s military infrastructure in Europe to 1997 levels.

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Washington sees many of these proposals as unworkable, but has pushed the Kremlin to discuss them with Washington and its European allies.

“The diplomatic path remains open. The way for Moscow to show that it wants to take that path is simple,” U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Saturday after talks with Asian allies.

Washington, its European allies and other countries have been scaling back or evacuating embassy staff and urging citizens to leave immediately or avoid traveling to Ukraine.

U.S. staff of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) began driving on Sunday from the rebel-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a Reuters witness said.
The OSCE operates in Ukraine, including a Russian-backed civilian monitoring mission in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the self-proclaimed separatist republic, where the war that began in 2014 has killed more than 14,000 people.

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Ukraine said on Sunday it hoped to hold talks with Russia and OSCE members within 48 hours to discuss Russia’s military buildup. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said Moscow did not respond after Kiev on Friday invoked part of the Vienna document, a set of security protocols, asking Moscow to explain its military activities.

Dutch airline KLM said it would stop flying to Ukraine, and Germany’s Lufthansa said it was considering suspending flights.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskiy, said that whatever the airline chooses to do, Kiev will not close its airspace because it is akin to “a kind of partial blockade”.
What the Russian leader said after President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Putin was no indication Moscow was preparing for an offensive, a French presidential official said on Saturday, although Paris remained “on high alert”.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace cautioned against getting too much hope for the talks, telling London’s The Sunday Times that “there is a smell of Munich in the air for some in the West”, referring to a 1938 agreement Can stop Germany in Adolf Hitler.

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HT Rewind 2024: Teja Sajja says HanuMan kicking off the year in style is the moment he’d been ‘waiting for’ | Exclusive

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1 day ago

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December 21, 2024

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HT Rewind 2024: Teja Sajja says HanuMan kicking off the year in style is the moment he’d been ‘waiting for’ | Exclusive

In conversation with Hindustan Times, Teja Sajja decodes the success of HanuMan and other Telugu films, talks about his upcoming projects, and more.
When Prasanth Varma’s superhero film HanuMan, starring Teja Sajja, was announced to be released alongside big films like Mahesh Babu’s Guntur Kaaram, Venkatesh’s Saindhav and Nagarjuna’s Naa Saami Ranga in January this year, no one expected the underdog to emerge on top. And yet, the film, made on a budget of under ₹50 crore, managed to collect over ₹300 crore at the box office worldwide in 25 days, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films for the year. (Also Read: Ranveer Singh met HanuMan actor Teja Sajja, complimented him even after his Prasanth Varma film Rakshas got shelved)

Ask Teja about the moment he realised his film had not just fought against the tide but also risen to the top; he tells Hindustan Times in an exclusive conversation, “Since I returned to acting (as a lead actor after being a child artiste since 1998), this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. When everything from the HanuMan teaser to the songs was grabbing attention, we knew we had hit a gold mine. But I don’t think we imagined it would cross the ₹300 crore threshold. We were so satisfied with the opening numbers; everything else was a bonus.”

‘Success has given me fear of disappointing people’

Teja acted in Zombie Reddy, Ishq and Adbhutham before HanuMan, but they are what you would call ‘critical successes’, adding to his repertoire as an actor who can perform. But things have changed for him now, says Teja, who is being picky about the roles he says yes to. “Success either makes you overconfident or gives you the fear of disappointing people; I have the latter,” he explains.

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Teja admits he wants to chart out his career in Hrithik Roshan’s footsteps, but not in the way you think. “I have such a fondness for Hrithik due to Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish. No matter how well he performed after that, these left a lasting impression on me; I’m sure 90s kids will agree,” he says, adding, “Similarly, I’ve realised that I have an audience in children now. I want to be conscious of that when I pick roles. I want to make films families can enjoy together.”

But despite people in places like Mumbai or Delhi recognising him, Teja says he’s clear that he wants to cater to the Telugu audience first. “I am conscious that I am making films for my playground – the Telugu states. This is the sensibility I have grown up with, and I don’t know if I can cater to everyone else. Will I promote my films in other languages? Sure. But I also can’t be part of films that aren’t authentic to what I know or understand,” he explains.

‘Rootedness has put us on the world map’

And authenticity seems to be the need of the hour. Be it Baahubali and RRR or the recently released Pushpa 2: The Rule, Kalki 2898 AD and Devara: Part 1, certain kind of stories seem to be finding success. “Rootedness and going local is proving to be such a boon for us, be it in Devara or Pushpa or HanuMan. Kalki 2898 AD was our version of a Hollywood film (the sci-fi concept) with actors from across languages in predominant roles; it put us on the world map,” reflects Teja.

However, the actor admits Tollywood went through a phase of Bollywood-inspired rom-coms and family dramas that worked in their favour for a while. “That wasn’t easy to replicate either, but it’s just that these local stories are what the audience seems most interested in now. It can’t just be chalked up to religion, too. It’s about the morals these films are hinged on, the fighting for righteousness, and how an underdog can find their strength. Introducing Mahabharata or Ramayana to a new audience in a cool way is just a perk,” he says.

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And it’s this rootedness that Teja says his next films, Mirai and Jai Hanuman (the sequel to HanuMan), will also have ample of. “Mirai is also a superhero film that caters to kids, but it’s not an origin story like HanuMan. It has a pan-Asian and Buddhist touch because the story is based on King Ashoka’s ideologies. I hope that I will get to deliver something new to the audience again. I will only feel like I’ve arrived if Mirai is equally, if not more, successful,” says Teja.

Rishab Shetty will headline Jai Hanuman, but Teja also looks forward to shooting that. “I can’t wait to be on that set; it’ll be exciting. Now that we know India is ready to watch our films, I want to step it up. I want to shift gears and shoot for at least two films in 2025,” he says. As for what he will do next, Teja says he wants to up the ante. “When I got a SIIMA award for Zombie Reddy as a debutant, I remember telling Prasanth this would be the last award I get. But now that I won a Radio City Cine Award for Best Actor, I hope more awards will follow,” he signs off cheekily.

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