Appearing on the German TV program “Heute Journal,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken showed no signs of tempering his position towards Russia. The first question was on the risk of Russia invading Ukraine. Blinken’s assessment: “The risk is real; the risk is high. Russia has massed considerable forces on Ukraine’s border: 100,000 troops. It continues to send forces near Ukraine, including most recently to Belarus. So the risk is very serious, and it’s not just the fact that there are forces massed there.” Claiming that the crisis “has been created by Russia,” Blinken claimed that the U.S. had shown many years of goodwill to Russia, but had been rebuffed.
The news host herself claimed that Biden’s differentiation between a Russian invasion of Ukraine and a “minor incursion” had been “corrected.” Blinken agreed, saying that such soft warfare methods as pushing for a coup are what Biden meant, and that “If a Russian soldier crosses into Ukraine, then we have a profound problem, a clear attack on Ukraine, whether it’s one soldier or a thousand soldiers.”
He said that it’s not just the U.S. threatening Russia with punishing countermeasures, but all of the allies. “I can’t remember a time in my own experience where there’s been closer consultation on an issue of major importance and a challenge to our common security.”
Overall: “I don’t anticipate any breakthroughs” with Lavrov.
