Secretary of State Antony Blinken to visit Ukraine as US-Russia tensions escalate
What’s happening in Ukraine? Russian troops at border raise new invasion fear
Blinken will meet with his German counterpart, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, in Berlin on Thursday. The secretary will also meet with members of Transatlantic Quad, including Australia, India and Japan, the State Department said.
a week of intense negotiation between the U.S., the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia over the immediate threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as a broader impasse over the security structure of post-Cold War Europe.
Over the past several weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has amassed 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and threatened intervention in the country if a series of Russian security concerns – including a withdrawal of NATO forces from all of Eastern Europe and pledge to never admit Ukraine into the military alliance – are met.
Biden, Democrats call for sanctions on Putin, other top Russian officials if Kremlin invades Ukraine
Russia wants its demands met; NATO allies push back
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin needed responses from the U.S. on its security demands before talks could continue.
At the beginning of the week, Russia increased military exercises in Belarus, which borders Ukraine, alarming American and European analysts.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said he could not rule out sending military forces to Cuba or Venezuela should the U.S. not withdraw its military presence from post-Soviet countries, including NATO members like Poland and Romania.
Britain defended any nation’s freedom to align itself with a country or alliance.
“Countries choose NATO; NATO does not choose them. If Russia has concerns about the enlargement, it should perhaps ask itself why, when people were free to choose, they chose NATO,” United Kingdom Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a speech Monday.
Baerbock, the German foreign minister, has warned Russia will pay a “high price” should it invade Ukraine.
“No country has the right to dictate to other countries which direction they may take, which relationships they may have and which alliances they may enter into. Ukraine’s sovereignty can and will never be (the) subject of negotiations,” she said Monday.
US intelligence cites Russian ‘false flag’ operations
The White House said Friday that U.S. intelligence officials had determined Russia had already deployed operatives to rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to carry out so-called “false flag” operations – acts of sabotage and subterfuge – to justify a possible invasion of the country.
“We are still at a moment where we believe a path of diplomacy can operate in a way that vindicates and reflects our interests and principles. And we’re prepared to work with our allies and partners on that,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said during a Jan. 13 press briefing.
Sullivan also noted that Russian negotiators have given “contradictory” statements during negotiations, but that U.S. intelligence has not determined that an invasion of Ukraine is inevitable.
Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbrownsir.
Contributing: The Associated Press