The US envoy to the United Nations called on Beijing Thursday to encourage Russia "to do the right thing" in the Ukraine crisis -- drawing a sharp response from her Chinese counterpart who accused Washington of fanning tensions.

"We would hope that the Chinese would play a role in encouraging the Russians to do the right thing," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield in an interview on CNN.

Fears are high in Western capitals that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine after building up some 100,000 troops around its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Russia is rejecting those claims, but demanding sweeping security guarantees from NATO and the United States.

"The Chinese have expressed a strong concern in the Security Council for protecting the integrity of borders and sovereignty of states," said Thomas-Greenfield.

"This is exactly what the Russians are doing - they are threatening the integrity of a border, so for China to deliver that message would be extraordinarily important," she added.

China, the United States, and Russia are three of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, with the United Kingdom and France being the remaining two.

China's ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, quickly responded to Thomas-Greenfield's comments on Twitter.

"Our message is consistent and clear: resolve any differences through diplomacy," he said in a tweet.

"Stop hyping up the tension," Zhang wrote without naming anyone in particular. "Russia's legitimate security concerns should be seriously addressed.

After a tense meeting at the end of January called by the United States, the UN Security Council is set to meet again on Ukraine next week.

Next week's meeting was called by Russia, which wants to discuss the implementation of the Minsk Accords on Ukraine that were signed in 2015.

Russia begins joint military drills with Belarus
Moscow (AFP) Feb 10, 2022 - Russia and Belarus launched joint military drills Thursday despite concerns in Western countries that Moscow is plotting a major escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.

The exercises, scheduled to continue until February 20 in Belarus, had begun and would centre around "suppressing and repelling external aggression," Russia's defence ministry said in a statement.

Soldiers would practise beefing up sections of the Belarus border to block the delivery of weapons and ammunition into the country, among other scenarios, it said.

The games have exacerbated deeply strained ties between Russia and the West, which accuses Moscow of massing approximately 100,000 troops around the borders of Ukraine for a potential invasion.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was in Moscow Thursday for talks with her Russian counterpart to urge the Kremlin not to attack or face "massive consequences" from Western sanctions.

Moscow and Minsk have not disclosed how many troops are participating in the drills, but the United States has said Russia was planning to dispatch 30,000 troops personnel to several regions in ex-Soviet Belarus.

Responding to Western concerns, the Kremlin has insisted that it has no intention of leaving the troops permanently on Belarusian territory.

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Russian forces around Ukraine now 'north of 100,000': Pentagon
Washington (AFP) Feb 9, 2022
Russia continues to build up its forces along the border with Ukraine and has now deployed "north of 100,000" troops, the Pentagon said Wednesday. "We have continued to see even over the last 24 hours additional capabilities flow from elsewhere in Russia to that border with Ukraine and Belarus," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. "We're not going to get into providing specific numbers but the numbers continue to grow," he said. Referring to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Kirby said "we main ... read more