U.S. and NATO allies intensify diplomacy in push to deter Russian ‘lightning raid’ on Ukraine

They also discussed preparations to impose “massive consequences and severe economic costs” on Russia, as well as moves to reinforce security on NATO’s eastern flank. The Western military alliance said Monday it was moving more military equipment into Eastern Europe, sending additional ships and fighter jets, just as the Biden administration put 8,500 troops on heightened alert for potential deployment to Europe.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia was watching NATO’s moves and President Vladimir Putin was “taking measures to ensure that our security and our interests are properly protected.”

Macron said during the virtual meeting that de-escalating the situation would require “strong, credible warnings to Russia” and “constant coordination among European partners and allies.” Paris is hosting talks with Berlin, Kyiv and Moscow on Wednesday in a continuation of long-standing discussions between the four powers.

Paris has a tradition of pushing for European diplomacy to be more independent of Washington. But Macron’s expressed desire to strengthen EU involvement in the crisis comes as some Baltic states push for greater U.S. involvement and support.

“The biggest deterrence to Russia is an American flag,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told the Financial Times of London newspaper in an interview published Monday. Tensions in the Baltics are intensifying in parallel with the Ukraine crisis as Moscow has issued a demand for the removal of all NATO military infrastructure installed after 1997 in Eastern European countries that are now members of the alliance.

Over the weekend, U.S. and European officials played down any differences in their approach toward Moscow. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed during a meeting with his European counterparts Monday that Washington would “coordinate closely on next steps to deter Russian aggression” with the EU and member states, as well as long-standing transatlantic institutions such as NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, spokesman Ned Price said.

In Belarus, which borders Ukraine, a group of hackers calling themselves “Cyber Partisans” said Monday they had hacked the railway network of the Kremlin-aligned state to “disrupt” the movement of Russian troops. The group, announcing its cyber intrusion in posts on Twitter and Telegram, said that it had encrypted the railroad’s “servers, databases and workstations to disrupt its operations” because the network facilitates the passage of “occupying troops.”

Minsk said that Russian troops continued to arrive in the country ahead of a major training exercise next month. Further video surfaced on social media Monday showing Russian military convoys and trains with military equipment moving across southern Russia and Belarus.

Cyber Partisans said it would return the network to “normal mode” if 50 political prisoners in need of medical care were released, and Russian troops were barred from Belarus. As of Monday evening, parts of the Belarusian Railway website were down, showing an error message that “the site is temporarily unavailable, come back later.”

Meanwhile, Canadian officials said Monday that hackers had launched a cyber attack on the country’s foreign ministry last week, around the time Ottawa’s cyber defense agency was warning of Russian-backed threats. Canada is a NATO member and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been vocal in his opposition to Russia’s massing of forces on the Ukrainian border.

The Treasury Board Secretariat, which is responsible for Canadian government operations, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Russian actors were responsible.

“Critical services for Canadians through Global Affairs Canada are currently functioning. Some access to Internet and internet-based services are not currently available as part of the mitigation measures and work is underway to restore them,” the Treasury Board said in a statement.

Amid the escalating tensions, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) requested the Biden administration brief members of the upper chamber on the Russia-Ukraine situation, a person familiar with the matter said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has also requested a similar all-member bipartisan briefing.

Even as the administration seeks a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine crisis, the United States and some Western allies have begun to take the kind of dramatic steps typically reserved for the eve of anticipated armed action.

Britain pulled out some diplomats and their families to from Ukraine on Monday, a day after the United States ordered families of diplomats to leave Kyiv and authorized nonessential embassy staff to leave.

In an interview with the ITV network, Britain’s Johnson said intelligence indicates Russia is planning a “lightning raid” on Kyiv as he warned the Kremlin that an incursion would be “a disastrous step” that could lead to a lengthy conflict with casualties on both sides.

Pannett reported from Sydney. Bryan Pietsch in Seoul, Amanda Coletta in Toronto and Ashley Parker, Missy Ryan and Karoun Demirjian in Washington contributed to this report.