State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said this during a briefing.

The start of exercises for the troops of the aggressor country in the Voronezh, Belgorod, Bryansk and Smolensk regions was announced immediately after US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman announced that the signal from Russia for de-escalation would be "the return of troops to the barracks".

"We believe that in this case, de-escalation would involve the return of Russian troops to the barracks, an explanation of these manoeuvres or their termination, as well as the return of heavy weapons to their places of normal storage", - Ned Price emphasized.

He added that progress in the negotiations between Russia and the United States on de-escalation could happen only if the problematic issues were not escalated.

What is known

• US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said that Russia had prepared plans for sabotage and internal destabilization of Ukraine.
• Russia has begun transferring military helicopters to the border with Ukraine. The move may indicate that planning for the attack is still ongoing, as the number of Russian troops at the border has remained stable in recent weeks.
• The US is bracing for Russia to spread disinformation about commitments related to the bilateral security consultations in Geneva.
• The occupiers conducted training with the regular forces of naval aviation and air defence of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.
• On January 8, the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation conducted training with rescue forces in stormy weather at its bases in Novorossiysk and occupied Crimea.

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