BRUSSELS, 20 February 2022, (TON): Western leaders said Russia and China were seeking to "replace the existing international rules" with their own order, as Beijing backed Moscow over its showdown with NATO.

Russia has all but encircled Ukraine with its huge troop buildup and US President Joe Biden has warned that Vladimir Putin plans an invasion within days.

Moscow is using the threat to invade Ukraine to demand a halt to NATO expansion and what it calls "Cold War" ideologies.

At a closely choreographed appearance in Beijing for the Winter Olympics, Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping had put up a united front against NATO expansion.

"For the first time we now see Beijing joining Moscow in calling on NATO to stop admitting new members," noted the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg, speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

MOSCOW, 20 February 2022, (TON):  Russia's President Vladimir Putin launched exercises by strategic nuclear missile forces on Saturday and Washington said Russian troops massed near Ukraine's border were "poised to strike".

As Western nations fear the start of one the worst conflicts since the Cold War, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian forces were beginning to "uncoil and move closer" to the border with its former Soviet neighbour.

He told a news conference on a visit to Lithuania "we hope he steps back from the brink of conflict.”

Russia ordered the military build-up while demanding NATO stop Ukraine ever joining the alliance but says predictions it is planning to invade Ukraine are wrong and dangerous. It says it is now pulling back while Washington and allies insist the build-up is mounting.

Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine earlier declared a full military mobilisation, a day after ordering women and children to evacuate to Russia, citing the threat of an imminent attack by Ukrainian forces.

MOSCOW, 20 February 2022, (TON):  The Russian embassy in the United States said “Russia rejected U.S. allegations that it was responsible for cyberattacks on Ukrainian banking and government websites as baseless.”

It said "we categorically reject these baseless statements of the administration and note that Russia has nothing to do with the mentioned events and in principle has never conducted and does not conduct any 'malicious' operations in cyberspace.”

U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger said that Russian military intelligence was behind the recent spate of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that briefly knocked Ukrainian banking and government websites offline.

KABUL, 20 February 2022, (TON): Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, hailing his visit to Qatar as a success, says Gulf countries have promised to support Afghanistan’s development. A high-level delegation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, led by the foreign minister, has returned to Kabul from the five-day trip to Doha.

In Doha, the visiting team held productive talks with representatives from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and envoys of European countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman quoted Muttaqi as saying these countries had promised support for Afghanistan’s health, economic and commercial sectors.

The foreign minister said: “It was our first meeting with the Gulf states. It is an achievement that we didn’t have before.”

Representatives of European countries also pledged to help Afghanistan deal with its health issues and economic challenges.

Muttaqi added “Afghan businessmen are living in the Gulf states. We shared their problems with representatives of those countries.”

KABUL, 20 February 2022, (TON): The US special envoy for Afghan women, girls and human rights, Rina Amiri, discussed the humanitarian situation as well as human rights in Afghanistan with representatives of OIC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Amiri today said onTwitter that in the meeting she called on the OIC representatives to ‘press’ the Islamic Emirate for inclusive governance and ro uphold rights, emphasizing that human rights and humanitarian issues are linked.

She tweeted “in Jeddah, agreed with OIC reps that the Muslim World needs to be at the forefront of holding the Taliban accountable to respect human rights & deliver on its commitment to enable women & girls, in all their diversity, to return to school, work & public & political life."

Amiri also met with the Islamic Development Bank group and discussed efforts toward addressing the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

She tweeted “welcomed progress towards the establishment of the Afghanistan Trust Fund & efforts to garner donor support from OIC members & other allies to address the devastating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.”

International Islamic Fiqh Academy was another venue where Amiri discussed human rights and women’s and girls’ right to work and education. Amiri said, according to the academy, exclusion of women from social and political life is not acceptable in Islam.

DHAKA, 20 February 2022, (TON): United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly T Clements has said “the solution to the protracted Rohingya crisis lies with Myanmar and a political solution is absolutely necessary.”

She said “following the military coup in February 2021, working with the government in Myanmar has been more difficult than in previous years.”

The deputy high commissioner noted in an exclusive interview “obviously, the solution is in Myanmar. A political solution and a broader solution to the crisis is absolutely necessary.”

When asked about a possible timeframe for an end to the crisis, she said “you know the solution lies in Myanmar. We did not expect what happened a year ago. Let’s hope we see some resolution there before long.”

India, 20 February 2022, (TON): India's relations with China right now was going through a very difficult phase after Beijing violated border agreements, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, underlining that the state of the border will determine the state of the relationship.

Mr Jaishankar, addressing the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2022 Panel Discussion in Munich, said that there is a problem India is having with China.

He said in response to a question from the host "and the problem is that for 45 years there was peace, there was stable border management, there were no military casualties on the border from 1975.”

Mr Jaishankar said "that changed because we had agreements with China not to bring military forces to the… we call it the border but it's Line of Actual Control, and the Chinese violated those agreements.”

He said that "the state of the border will determine the state of the relationship, that's natural".

"So obviously relations with China right now are going through a very difficult phase," the foreign minister said, adding that India's relations with the West were quite decent even before June 2020.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas and both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

DHAKA, 20 February 2022, (TON): Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami said the election process of Bangladesh is its internal matter and they are looking forward to working with the next government of Bangladesh.

Doraiswami while replying to query of journalists in Chattogram's Fatickchari upazila said "election is the matter of the entire people and the government of Bangladesh. It is an internal matter to Bangladesh. We are friends of Bangladesh and Bangladesh's democracy. We have no comment to make on your (Bangladesh) election.”

The Indian high commissioner went there along with his wife to offer dua to Maizbhandar Sharif of the upazila taking "Gilaf", a decorated colourful fabric to be placed on the mausoleum.

He added "we look forward to seeing the election process happening in Bangladesh, we look forward to the result of the election and we will work with the next government. For us, we do not want to make any comment on the election of Bangladesh.”

Mentioning that India is a good friend of Bangladesh, he said, "Our hearts are united over the Liberation War. I am very grateful to the Tariqat Federation for the opportunity to come here and offer my dua."

DHAKA, 20 February 2022, (TON): A six-day joint exercise between Bangladesh Air Force and Pacific Air Force,  USA-Exercise Cope South-2022-will kick off today.

An ISPR press release said “the exercise is being organized as per the directive of Bangladesh Armed Forces Division (AFD) and under the arrangement of BAF.”

The inauguration ceremony of the exercise was held today at BAF Base Bangabandhu. Air Officer Commanding of BAF Base Bangabandhu Air Vice Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan welcomed the participants of the exercise and took part in a photo session with them.

BAF 01 X C-130J transport aircraft, 01 X AN-32 transport aircraft and 02 X C-130J transport aircraft from Pacific Air Force, USA are taking part in the joint exercise.

Besides, enhancing humanitarian assistance capability during any natural disaster, the objective of the exercise is to ensure maximum utilization of BAF transport aircraft and develop interoperability between BAF and United States Air Force.

KYIV, 19 February 2022, (TON): Russia expelled the deputy chief of the US mission in Moscow. The State Department confirmed the expulsion of Bart Gorman, calling it unprovoked.

The move came amid heightened tensions between Russia and the US, fuelled by fears that Moscow plans to invade Ukraine.

Gorman was second in command at the US embassy in Moscow and had an open visa. He spent less than three years in Moscow.

Washington accused Moscow of misleading the world with disinformation by saying it was returning some troops to bases, charging that Moscow has instead added as many as 7,000 more troops near its tense border with Ukraine.

Tensions spiked along the line that separates Ukrainian forces from Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east, with the parties accusing each other of intensive shelling.

Western fears resurged that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine, after weeks of East-West tensions that have threatened Europe’s post-Cold War balance of power.

The US and its Nato partners said they had seen no sign yet of Russia’s promised troop withdrawal.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said at Nato headquarters in Brussels “We’ve seen some of those troops inch closer to that border. We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft.”