by Pavel Polityuk and Anton Zverev
KIEV/DONETSK, Feb 12 (Reuters) – The United States on Saturday ordered some of its embassy staff in Ukraine to leave the country over the threat of Russian military intervention and two sources said Washington was evacuating its diplomatic personnel present in Ukraine within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
These repatriations illustrate the continuous rise of tension in Ukraine in the face of the influx of Russian troops near the country’s borders.
“Today, the State Department ordered non-emergency embassy employees to leave due to repeated reports of Russian military buildups on the border with Ukraine, which imply the possibility of military intervention. important,” the embassy said.
Essential embassy staff and their Ukrainian colleagues will continue their work, she added.
Russia said for its part that it had “optimized” its diplomatic presence in Ukraine, explaining that it feared “provocations” from Kiev or third parties.
Separately, Reuters has learned from two diplomatic sources that the United States is in the process of withdrawing its personnel from the OSCE in Ukraine, effective immediately.
The OSCE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The organization is carrying out several operations in Ukraine, including a civilian monitoring mission of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics in the east of the country, a region in which the 2014 armed conflict left more than 14,000 dead.
One of the sources, who requested anonymity, said he expected other countries to make similar evacuation decisions soon.
Many countries, including the United States, Britain and Germany, have called on their citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible, with Washington saying a Russian military offensive could begin “at any time”.
Russia for its part accuses Western countries of lies.
(Report Anton Zverev in Donetsk, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Maria Tsvetkova and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; French version Marc Angrand)