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Ukrainians defied pressure from Moscow with a national show of flag-waving unity Wednesday, while the U.S. warned that Russia had added as many as 7,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders despite Kremlin declarations that forces were being pulled back from the region, Associated Press reported.

While a Russian invasion of Ukraine did not materialize as feared, the United States and its allies maintained that the threat is still strong, with Europe’s security and economic stability in the balance.

Russia has massed more than 150,000 troops east, north and south of Ukraine, according to Western estimates. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled that he wants a peaceful path out of the crisis, and U.S. President Joe Biden promised that the U.S. would continue to give diplomacy “every chance,” but he struck a skeptical tone about Moscow’s intentions. Biden also insisted that Washington and its allies would not “sacrifice basic principles” respecting Ukraine sovereignty.

Russian Defense Ministry video showed a trainload of armored vehicles moving across a bridge away from Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. It also announced that more tank units were being loaded on trains to move back to their permanent bases after training exercises.

But at the same time, Russia continued war games near Ukraine’s borders and across its vast territory. 

A senior U.S. administration official said the West detected that Russia had increased its force near Ukraine by 7,000 troops, with some arriving as recently as Wednesday, and that there had been a marked increase in false claims by Russians that the Kremlin might use as pretext for an invasion.

The official said those claims included reports of unmarked graves of civilians allegedly killed by Ukrainian forces, statements that the U.S. and Ukraine are developing biological or chemical weapons, and claims that the West is funneling in guerrillas to kill Ukrainians.

The official was not authorized to speak publicly about sensitive operations and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The official did not provide underlying evidence for the assertions.

The U.S. and Europe are maintaining threats of harsh sanctions. Trust between East and West remains elusive.

“We haven’t seen a pullback,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News. “He (Putin) can pull the trigger. He can pull it today. He can pull it tomorrow. He can pull it next week. The forces are there if he wants to renew aggression against Ukraine.”

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. had seen “more Russian forces, not fewer.”

Asked why Russians would claim to be withdrawing when government intelligence, commercial satellite photos and social media videos showed no evidence of that, Price said: “This is the Russian playbook, to paint a picture publicly … while they do the opposite.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance also had not seen “any withdrawal of Russian forces,” as did multiple European governments. Before chairing a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels, he said: “If they really start to withdraw forces, that’s something we will welcome, but that remains to be seen.”

In the meantime, the alliance is examining this week how and when to rapidly dispatch troops and equipment to countries closest to Russia and the Black Sea region should Moscow order an invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy similarly dismissed the Russian withdrawal claims.

“What is this? Rotations, withdrawal, returning back again,” he said on a visit to the southeastern city of Mariupol. “It’s too early to rejoice.”

The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly sought to project calm as well as strength during the crisis, declaring Wednesday a “Day of National Unity.”

“We are united by a desire to happily live in peace,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation earlier in the day. “We can defend our home only if we stay united.”

Across the country, Ukrainians of all ages waved flags in the streets and from apartment windows.

Hundreds unfolded a 200-meter (650-foot) flag at Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium, while another was draped in the center of a shopping mall in the capital.

In the government-controlled part of Ukraine’s eastern region of Luhansk, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian troops since 2014, residents stretched another huge flag across a street.

“This event, this number of people united around Ukrainian flag will show that we stand for united Ukraine,” said resident Olena Tkachova.

A 2015 deal brokered by France and Germany helped end the worst of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, but implementation has stalled. The deal, known as the Minsk agreement, would offer broad self-rule to the separatist territories and thus is resented by many in Ukraine.

A Ukrainian government official said in a television interview that Zelenskyy would consider holding a referendum on the Minsk agreement “if there are no other options or instruments.” But Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said she was unaware that such an idea was under serious discussion.

Russia has repeatedly complained that the U.S. and NATO have not responded satisfactorily in writing to its security concerns. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Russia is in the final phase of preparing its formal response to the West. “After that, a schedule of further steps will be developed,” she said on state television.

The Kremlin wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet nations out of NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back forces from Eastern Europe. The U.S. and its allies have roundly rejected those demands, but they offered to engage in talks with Russia on ways to bolster security in Europe.

For now, Russia is flexing its muscle. Russian fighter jets flew training missions Wednesday over neighboring Belarus and paratroopers held shooting drills at firing ranges there as part of massive war games that the West feared could be used as cover for an invasion of Ukraine. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei reaffirmed that all Russian troops and weapons will leave the country when the maneuvers end Sunday.

Maxar Technologies, a commercial satellite imagery company that has been monitoring the Russian buildup, reported Wednesday that new photos show heightened Russian military activity near Ukraine, including the construction of a pontoon bridge in Belarus less than 6 kilometers (4 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Russia has mocked Western warnings about an imminent invasion as “paranoia” and “madness.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed sarcastically at warnings of an invasion that could start Wednesday, saying that Russian officials had a good sleep.

Asked by German daily Welt if Russia was going to attack Wednesday, Russia’s ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, quipped: “Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.” 

“There won’t be an escalation next week either, on in the week after, or in the coming month,” he said.

But British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News that instead of a Russian withdrawal, “we’ve seen continued buildup of things like field hospitals and strategic weapons systems.”

The White House will lean on Vice President Kamala Harris to help with diplomatic efforts when she travels to Germany to take part in this weekend’s Munich Security Conference, officials said. Harris is scheduled to meet Friday with Stoltenberg and hold a multilateral meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. She’s also scheduled to deliver a major address Saturday on the administration’s efforts to stop Russian aggression. After the speech, Harris is slated to meet with Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an order to register a writ petition on the civic polls.

A single bench of SC Justice Iswar Prasad Khatiwada issued an order to register the writ petition related to local election, said SC Spokesperson Baburam Dahal. 

According to him, the writ petition was earlier rejected on February 9. “It is rationale to resolve the issue relating to the tenure of local level office-bearers by interpreting constitutional and legal provisions through judicial review”, reads the apex court order. “It is not appropriate to settle such issue relating to the constitution and law by rejecting the application at an administrative level without bringing this to the judicial process”. 

It may be noted that the Mayor of Bhangaha municipality of Mahottari, Sanjeev Kumar Sah had attempted to register a writ petition demanding not to conduct local election in a single phase. 

He argued that the conduction of the local election announced for May would deprive them to complete the constitutionally-stipulated five-year term. 

The government had decided to hold the local election on May 13. The civic poll was held in three phases earlier in 2017. In the past election, the civic poll was held late on 16 June 2017 in the then Province-2, recently named Madhes province. 

Dahal informed that the writ petition of Mayor Sah would now be registered with this. RSS

On February 13, 98 lawmakers from the ruling parties registered an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana. The sudden move smacked of political opportunism. 

The judiciary had been in crisis for the past five months. The political parties were indifferent, all the while looking to exploit the crisis for their vested interest. They got to do so on February 13.

The impeachment motion was registered just before the hearing of a case against 14 lawmakers of CPN (Unified Socialist), a ruling coalition partner. The main opposition, CPN-UML, had filed a case questioning the legitimacy of the lawmakers who were expelled from the mother party.

The ruling coalition wants the Supreme Court to decide in its favor. If the court scraps the status of 14 lawmakers, there will be questions over the legitimacy of the incumbent government.

Similarly, ruling parties want to overturn the judicial appointments of KP Oli-led government while the UML’s case against Speaker Agni Sapkota is also under deliberation.

That the impeachment motion was registered against Rana to influence these court cases is clear enough, say observers.

For the impeachment motion to clear through parliament, it must have the support of two-thirds of the lawmakers. Thus the motion can’t be endorsed without the main opposition, UML, on board.

Last year, UML chair KP Sharma Oli came down heavily against Rana and four other Supreme Court justices who delivered the verdict to reinstate parliament and appoint Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister. Now, Oli is defending Rana and opposing impeachment, saying the motion is a blow to the judiciary’s independence. 

Similarly, PM Deuba, who was against impeachment just three months ago, has changed his mind and is now in favor of impeaching Rana. Also linked with the impeachment case is the much-debated Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Nepal compact, says a Nepali Congress leader who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

“Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had pledged to support the MCC compact after the agreement among ruling parties to impeach Rana,” says the NC leader. “That was the trade-off but Dahal backtracked.”

According to another ruling party leader, CPN (Maoist-Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist) are willing to table the compact if PM Deuba commits to keep the coalition intact.

It is an open secret that the UML will support the compact’s endorsement if PM Deuba breaks the coalition.

Nepali Congress Central Working Committee member Min Bahadur Bishwakarma says ruling partners are engaged in all kinds of political bargaining. 

“On the one hand, the Maoists and Unified Socialist want to see the MCC endorsed amid their protests. On the other hand, they also want to stay in the government,” says Bishwakarma.

Charan Prasai, a human rights activist, says the impeachment’s timing indicates that it is politically motivated.

“There are cases in the apex court that are directly linked to the fate of the coalition government. Media reports also suggest Rana was suspended so that the new acting chief justice will serve the coalition’s interests,” says Prasai. 

Prasai adds that it is no secret that chief justice and justices frequently meet politicians to bargain on under-deliberation cases. The two sides maintain communication through middlemen. Lawyers knock on the door of politicians to become SC judges, and they in turn deliver verdicts favorable to their political patrons.

Prasai is of the view that the nexus between executive and judiciary deepened after then Chief Justice Khilraj Regmi was appointed government head in 2013 with the brief of holding the second Constituent Assembly elections. After this, judges and politicians started to mingle freely and to see how they could support each other. “It has now become normal for politicians to interfere in courts through judicial council and engage in bench buying,” says Prasai.

The same is the case in bureaucracy. Senior bureaucrats frequently knock on the door of politicians for promotion and favor. In return, politicians seek their support for policy and monetary corruption. This is how many former bureaucrats get appointed to key constitutional bodies. The Election Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority are thus highly politicized.

Says political analyst Lokraj Baral all state mechanisms have deviated from their constitutional duty and morality. “Heads of state bodies such as the judiciary, Election Commission, and bureaucracy are in hock with politicians for personal benefits,” says Baral. Businessmen and politicians also maintain close connections and these businessmen influence decision-making of ministries and other state organs. As businessmen provide monetary support to political parties, politicians often take policy decisions favorable to them.

Political Analyst Bishnu Dahal says the nexus between politicians and businessmen and between politicians and criminals can be seen from grass-roots to center levels. There is ‘setting’ everywhere, badly affecting state institutions, says Dahal.

Dahal says the ruling parties were preparing to impeach the chief election commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya due to his firm stand in favor of timely elections but backtracked due to public backlash and decided to impeach the chief justice instead.

The election of the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) will be held on March 21 and 22.

The NRNA Election Committee has made public the election schedule in a statement here today.

As per the schedule, the list of delegates for the preliminary general convention will be published from February 17 to 22.

The Election Committee has stated that the voter list will be published on February 23, the protest against the voter list can be registered from February 24 to 27, the decision on the protest will be made on March 2 and the final list will be published on March 3.

Candidate nomination papers will be registered on March 4 and 5, first list of candidates will be published on March 6, protest against candidate's candidature will be registered from March 6 to 7, examination of candidate's nomination papers and decision on complaints will be published on March 8 and second list of candidates will be published on March 9.

Similarly, candidates can withdraw their nominations on March 11 while the final list of candidates will be published on March 12 and voting will be held from 10 am on March 21 to 10 am of March 22, according to Chief Election Officer Bhimsen Banjara.

Registration fee for filing of nominations for the post of President of the Association has been fixed at Rs 1 million. Elected office bearers and members will have to pay the nomination fee before taking oath.

Elections will be held for 53 different posts including one chairperson, four vice chairpersons, one female vice chairperson, one youth vice chairperson, one general secretary, one secretary, three women secretaries, one treasurer, one co-treasurer and one female co-treasurer. The International Coordinating Council will have one woman coordinator, one youth coordinator, six regional coordinators, six regional deputy coordinators, six regional women coordinators, six regional women deputy coordinators and six regional youth deputy coordinators.

For the NRNA election, the Association has formed an election committee comprising Secretary Bhushan Ghimire (Japan) and Ram Pratap Thapa (Germany), Chiranjeevi Dhakal (UK) and Dr Bishnumaya Pariyar (US) under the coordination of Advocate Bhimsen Banjara.

Election for the new executive committee is being held through an online system, first time in the history of the association.

For online voting, the General Convention delegate (Voter) will have to verify his/her face during the voting. RSS