“Biden dispatched CIA Director Bill Burns to Moscow earlier this week to warn the Kremlin that the US is watching its buildup of troops near Ukraine's border closely, and to attempt to determine what is motivating Russia's actions ... The Biden administration has ramped up its efforts in recent days to de-escalate growing tensions between Moscow and Kiev. Following his meetings in Russia, Burns spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone in an attempt to diffuse those tensions ... an earlier buildup in the spring ultimately did not lead to a renewed invasion ... Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Friday that the ‘scale’ and ‘the size of the units that we're seeing’ from Russia is ‘unusual’ ... publicly, Ukraine has downplayed the idea that Russia is building up its military presence near the border beyond normal levels ... Biden dispatched Burns to Moscow on Tuesday, where he met with Kremlin officials to try to deter any plans for an offensive by conveying that the US is closely monitoring the troop movements ... images show Russian troops, tanks and artillery massing near the Russian town of Yelnya ... In response to questions about the satellite images, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters this week that ‘The movement of our military equipment or army units across the territory of the Russian Federation is exclusively our business.’ He added that ‘Russia has never threatened anyone, is not threatening, and does not pose a danger to anyone. But against the background of rather aggressive expansionist tendencies, especially on the part of NATO and other countries, Russia has always taken measures to ensure its security and will continue to do so’ ... European diplomats in the US and Europe say that the US has been conducting intense outreach about Russia, an effort that began in just the last few days. ‘The administration is very, very concerned—this is the most concerned I've heard them about Russia in a really, really long time,’ said one diplomat. ‘I wouldn't underestimate this. They're doing a massive outreach to raise awareness about this.’ The concerns the US is sharing are ‘pretty specific’ said another diplomat, who echoed others in saying that they are now being carefully and closely examined in European capitals ... defense officials told CNN they have not seen indications that Russia is preparing for a sustained operation like an invasion. That would require supplies to be brought into the area like food, fuel and spare parts ... Milley said this week the US wasn't seeing anything to indicate an imminent Russian move on Ukraine ... Milley said the Russian activity was ‘nothing overtly aggressive per se’ ... Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, say they do not believe the US has done enough to deter Russian aggression. Kiev has been pushing the US to do more to stop the Russia-Germany gas pipeline known as Nord Stream 2 from becoming fully operational, which will allow Russia to bypass Ukraine entirely when delivering gas to Europe”
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/05/politics/bill-burns-moscow-ukraine