Moscow calls for China and Russia to team up against the unfriendly actions of and unilateral sanctions imposed on both countries by the West.

The Pentagon announces plans to reinforce military bases and deployments in the Indo-Pacific region to counter what it claims to be threats from China and Russia.

President Vladimir Putin warns that Russia will act if the US-led NATO military alliance crosses its red lines in Ukraine.

Sourabh Gupta, a senior Asia-Pacific international relations policy specialist, said the most cosmetic option is likely to be the threat to militarily intervene and push Russia back in the case of a significant troop incursion into Ukrainian territory.

Russia says the US must not put pressure on anyone over the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

An American political analyst says an unprovoked Russian attack on Ukraine is highly unlikely, adding that such accusations by the West “lack substance” and are meant to pile up pressure on Moscow.  

Russia’s ambassador to the US has criticized the West’s shipment of arms to Ukraine, saying the assumptions that Moscow would not respond to Kiev’s military moves in fear of NATO is a “very dangerous delusion”.