Boris Johnson says Russian troops near Ukraine border is ‘not encouraging’

The latest intelligence on the build-up of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine is “not encouraging”, Boris Johnson has said following a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee.

The prime minister said that there were some hopeful signs of Moscow being ready to continue diplomatic conversations.

But he made clear he was sceptical about suggestions that president Vladimir Putin may be pulling back from the brink of war, pointing to evidence of field hospitals being built in Belarus near the border with Ukraine and army formations being brought closer to the frontier.

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