UK defense secretary in Moscow amid Ukraine tensions

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Britain’s defense secretary is visiting Moscow in another effort to ease tensions over a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Meanwhile, Russia is holding massive war games near its neighbor and insisting that the highly strained relations are not their fault. Ben Wallace’s trip came a day after British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also held talks in Moscow. She urged Russia to pull back over 100,000 troops near Ukraine and warned that attacking would “have massive consequences and carry severe costs.” Russia says it has no plans to invade but wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet countries out of NATO.