WASHINGTON, February 10 (Sputnik) -
ANTI-MANDATE PROTESTS IN CANADA
* The city of Windsor in the Canadian province of Ontario on Wednesday requested additional police deployment to deal with peaceful protesters blocking traffic at the Ambassador Bridge on the border with the United States, Mayor Drew Dilkens said.
* The US government is working to alleviate the risks to the supply chains, and in particular the risks to the automobile industry, posed by the anti-vaccine mandate protests in Canada, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
* The United States sees the preparations by Russia and Belarus to conduct military drills as escalatory, but Washington will not predict their meaning in terms of a potential invasion of Ukraine, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Wednesday.
*�Russian President Vladimir Putin does not plan to attend the joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
* Rear Adm. Oleg Zhuravlev, deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, said that the Israeli Air Force had launched a missile attack on the Syrian province of Damascus last night, at around 23:00 GMT Thursday.
* Turkey still has not fulfilled some of the obligations under the agreements reached between Ankara and Moscow on the Syrian Idlib and in particular on the M-4 (Aleppo-Latakia) highway, Russian Ambassador in Damascus Alexander Efimov told Sputnik.
* Neutralization of remaining Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia) militants in northeast Syria is complicated due to illegal presence of US forces that have to leave Syria immediately, Efimov told Sputnik.
* Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov is not ruling out further contacts at the highest level between Moscow and Washington in light of tensions over Ukraine and security in Eastern Europe.
* Antonov confirmed�the Biden administration could still request that he leave the country over lingering visa tensions.
* American diplomats are leaving the embassy in Moscow at Russia's demand, and this process of decreasing personnel of missions continues not due to Moscow's actions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
* High-level Russia-US contacts, including between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, are not planned yet, a diplomatic source told reporters.
* Russian officials are not planning to participate in the upcoming Munich Security Conference, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakhraova said on Wednesday.
* US Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Germany next week to take part in the Munich Security Conference where trip she will stress the United States' commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty, White House Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said.
* The United States is in favor of revising the Minsk agreements, which is fraught with an escalation in Donbas, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
* The White House has approved a Pentagon plan for US troops in Poland to help Americans flee Ukraine if the situation escalates, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.
* The EU has prepared a letter for Russia with a proposal to continue formal negotiations to deescalate the situation around Ukraine, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing the draft.
RUSSIA'S SECURITY GUARANTEES PROPOSALS
*�Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his UK counterpart, Liz Truss, will discuss issues related to security guarantees on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
* The European Union is not planning to disclose information on its response to Russia on security guarantees until it is sent, EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano told Sputnik.
* Russia is focused on quite diplomatic work with the United States on security guarantees, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said, adding that the West is engaged in "megaphone diplomacy."
