Over Who Can Join NATO U.S. Won t Bow to Russia

1 CMYK Nxxx,2022-02-03,A,001,Bs-4C,E1. Late Edition Today, cloudy, mild, periodic rain, fog, high 46. Tonight, rain, fog, low 35. Tomorrow, rain changing to ice and possible snow, high 38, then fall- ing. Weather map is on Page A20. VOL. CLXXI .. No. 59,323 2022 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 $ Won't Bow to Russia Over Who Can Join NATO. White House Orders NEWS ANALYSIS. Engaging in a Risky 3,000 Troops Into War of Words Eastern Europe By DAVID E. SANGER By STEVEN ERLANGER. WASHINGTON At key and ANDREW E.

2 KRAMER. moments since the Ukraine crisis BRUSSELS The confronta- flared into the headlines two tion between Russia and the months ago, President Biden and United States over Ukraine deep- his aides have worked to expose ened on Wednesday, as leaked Russian President Vladimir V. documents confirmed the and Putin's plans, declassifying intel - NATO rejection of key Russian se- ligence about his next steps and curity demands, while the Biden calling him out as an aggressor. administration ordered 3,000 ad- The administration has re- ditional troops into Eastern Eu- vealed information that one rope.

3 Could obtain only by penetrating, Although the leaked documents at least to some degree, Russia 's showed the United States had of- military and intelligence sys- fered to provide more transparen- tems. The Pentagon declared cy about missile deployments in publicly that the force Mr. Putin Eastern Europe, the basic mes- was assembling on three of sage to Moscow was American Ukraine's borders would reach and NATO resolve not to bow to 175,000 or more before an inva- Russian demands, in a dispute sion began, a piece of data one that has pushed relations to their cannot discern from looking at a worst since the Soviet era.

4 Satellite photograph. The broad outlines of the A few weeks later, it said Mos- and NATO written replies to the cow would try to stage a provo- Kremlin had already been known TODD HEISLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES. cation a false flag attack on and President Vladimir V. Putin A Solemn Farewell its own forces or allies to create a pretext to act. Then the of Russia said Tuesday that Moscow's demands had basically Wilbert Mora, one of two officers killed last month in Harlem, was remembered for his warmth and compassion. Page A19. Pentagon encouraged the British been ignored, even as he said his to reveal a Russian plan to install government was still analyzing a puppet government in Kyiv.

5 The responses. Each one of those revelations CNN Chief Out Starving and Scared, Afghans Pour Over Border was part of a strategy to get ahead of the Russians in an area where Moscow has long ex- For Concealing is facing extreme levels of celled: information warfare. Fleeing a Frozen Hell' hunger, Ant nio Guterres, United This article is by Christina Gold- But the disclosures also raised A Relationship Nations secretary general, said baum, Yaqoob Akbary and Kiana and Failed Economy last month. For Afghans, daily Hayeri. the issue of whether, in trying to disrupt Moscow's actions by life has become a frozen hell, he revealing them in advance, the ZARANJ, Afghanistan From their hide-out in the desert ravine, Under the Taliban added.

6 Administration is deterring Rus- By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM Now with no immediate respite sian action or spurring it on. The the migrants could just make out and JOHN KOBLIN in sight, hundreds of thousands of administration's goal is to cut the the white lights of the Iranian bor- Jeff Zucker resigned on der glaring over the horizon. jolted to his feet as the smugglers people have fled to neighboring Russians off at each turn by Wednesday as the president of barked at the group to run. countries. exposing their plans and forcing The air was cold and their CNN, departing one of the most Since the United States with- From October through the end them to think of alternative breath heavy.

7 Many had spent the YARA NARDI/REUTERS. powerful positions in American drew troops and the Taliban of January, more than a million Af- strategies. But that strategy last of their savings on food weeks The Harry S. Truman media after acknowledging that seized power, Afghanistan has ghans in southwestern Afghani- could provoke Mr. Putin at a before and cobbled together cash in the Adriatic Sea this week. he had failed to disclose a roman- plunged into an economic crisis stan alone have set off down one of moment when American intelli- from relatives, hoping to escape tic relationship with another sen- that has pushed millions already two major migration routes into gence officials believe he has not Afghanistan's economic collapse.

8 Yet decided whether to invade. ior executive at the network. Now, looking at the border they living hand-to-mouth over the Iran, according to migration re- But the publication of those an- The sudden end of Mr. Zucker's edge. Incomes have vanished, life- searchers. Aid organizations esti- Democracies are usually terri- swers provided additional detail saw a lifeline: work, money, food ble at information warfare, and nine-year tenure stunned his to eat. threatening hunger has become mate that around 4,000 to 5,000 and reinforced the obstacles to a newsroom and threw CNN's fu- people are crossing into Iran each American officials insist there is resolution, as fears escalated in There is no other option for widespread and badly needed aid ture into flux at a crucial moment: day.

9 A difference between what they the West about the large Russian me, I cannot go back, said Najaf has been stymied by Western The network is about to introduce Though many are choosing to are doing and the dark arts that troop buildup surrounding Akhlaqi, 26, staring at the smug- sanctions against Taliban offi- Mr. Putin made famous. a high-stakes streaming service, glers scouring the moonlit land- cials. leave because of the immediate Ukraine. and its parent company, Warner- Russia often makes up its Even as diplomacy aimed at de- scape for Taliban patrols.

10 Then he More than half of the population Continued on Page A12 narratives, and its officials have Media, is on the verge of being ac- fusing the crisis intensified on quired by Discovery Inc. no problem with lying outright, Wednesday, the responses, deliv- Mr. Zucker, 56, wrote in a memo as they did when Mr. Putin creat- ed a pretext to annex Crimea in ered to the Kremlin last week, un- on Wednesday that his relation- derscored the pressure on Mr. ship had come up during an inter- 2014, sent operatives to use nerve agents against Russian Putin to decide whether to go to nal investigation into the conduct war over demands the West has of Chris Cuomo, the CNN anchor opposition leader Alexei A.