UK intel on Russia-Ukraine border crisis 'not encouraging'

There are "signs of a diplomatic opening" with Russia over the Ukraine border crisis, but intelligence on a possible invasion was "still not encouraging," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday.

Moscow said Tuesday it was pulling back some of its forces near the Ukrainian border to their bases, but Johnson warned that Russian forces were still "ready to go at virtually any time".

"We are seeing Russian openness to conversations. On the other hand, the intelligence that we're seeing today is still not encouraging," Johnson told Sky News.

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Moscow released few details and there was no immediate outside confirmation of the withdrawal, which the Kremlin said had always been planned despite Western "hysteria" over a feared invasion of Ukraine.

It would be the first major step towards de-escalation in weeks of crisis with the West, but Johnson said Russia needed to do more to convince the world that it was not about to invade.

"We need to see a programme of de-escalation, withdrawing battalion tactical groups away from potential theatres of conflict.

"A sense that things are being scaled back and the threat is over," he said.

But he did say that there were "clearly signs of a diplomatic opening".

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